


A Tapestry Unraveled

by KaerosD



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Confusing, Dumbledore Did His Best, Even Smarter Hermione, F/M, Hardworking Harry, Ron Grows Up, Smart Harry, divine intervention, it didn't work out, wibbly wobbly timey wimey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24622099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaerosD/pseuds/KaerosD
Summary: What if at the train station, pass on or go back were not the only options? What happens when Death gives up what is hers in order to aid her Champion in repairing the damage that has been done to the tapestry of Fate?
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Comments: 58
Kudos: 279





	1. Death's Champion

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever attempt at writing a fan fic, and I hope you'll be gentle.
> 
> This will be Harry/Hermione focused as far as relationships, and won't include Weasley or Dumbledore bashing, beyond some being called to task for mistakes. We'll see about Snape.
> 
> I don't expect the rating to change, but will make a note if it does.
> 
> There will be aspects of the Lords and Houses type fanfics in this, but I don't expect it to be the focus.
> 
> Finally, this will not be a 'Harry knows everything that's going to happen and has unlimited power' type story either. The specifics of boons Harry receives are not going to be given most likely, but the focus of this is Harry getting to do things over with a family that is focused on preparing him for what is coming. Chapter two will go more into what sort of power levels and knowledge Harry is going to have going forward, as it sorts through the chaos.
> 
> Because what happens is going to cause such tremendous changes in the timeline, this is going to be a near entire rewrite of the story, we'll see what that looks like as regards time skipping and how long each section is.
> 
> Oh, and Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Duh. (everyone seems to include this, figured I should too, just in case you've never read a book before)

-=-=-= _The Place Between One Adventure and the Next, Everywhen and Nowhen_ =-=-=-

“You cannot help,” came the voice he had heard so many times and trusted so long.

Harry spun around, to see the figure of Albus Dumbledore walking towards him, sprightly and upright, dressed in sweeping robes of midnight blue.

“Harry,” he said, spreading his arms wide, his hands both whole and white and undamaged. “You wonderful boy. You brave, brave...BLLEGHHHHH!”

Two fast flashes of light cut the Headmasters words short, the bleating of a goat in blue robes heard just briefly before it toppled over from a red beam, stunned.

“I’ve wanted to do that for years!” exclaimed a voice from Harry’s side, causing him to spin, turning with wand in hand, the wand appearing in this strange place as soon as he thought of needing it. Looking into the grinning face of Sirius Black though, he lowered it, running to embrace his Godfather before other voices flooded over him.

“Trust Padfoot to steal the show,” came the wry, dry voice of Remus, “don’t worry Prongs, I’m sure he’ll notice soon.”

Reeling with the realization, Harry spun away from Sirius, shocked to see the others before him. His Dad’s fierce, proud smile and Remus’ bemused expression drifted across his awareness. But his eyes, his eyes were all for the beautiful redhead between them. “Mum?” he asked, taking a tentative step forward before she suddenly barreled into him with a force that would have made Hermione proud.

For the first time since he was a baby, his mother held him in her arms as he wept, his father wrapping arms around them both and the rest of his family gathered close.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

He couldn’t tell you how long they’d stayed there, just holding one another, listening to his parents whispering loving words as they embraced the boy they’d watched so long. Eventually, a bleating from the blue robed goat drew another flash of red light and attention from the group, and Harry stammered out, “I don’t understand… Where is this place? I’m dead…aren’t I?”

“Do you feel dead?” asked Sirius, a look of mischief and joy on his face, the look of the young prankster who’d delighted in the pranks he and his friends had pulled. “Your Dad told you we’d be with you until the very end. Is that what this is?” he asked, a strange challenge to his tone.

The others were silent, watching him, a gentle smile on his mother’s face and an encouraging nod from his father. Remus’ fond gaze waiting, all of them waiting for him as he began to understand. “I have to choose…something. Don’t I?” As soon as he said it, he seemed to notice the waiting train. Steam billowing from the engine, primed to depart. But his eyes drifted to that horrible thing laying huddled and miserable, wondering.

“Don’t. That wretched thing is not your burden,” said his mother’s voice, Lily’s gentle hand turning him away from the creature and back to the four of them. “Albus was right in that much, even if he has been consistently wrong for most of the last two decades.” There was fire in her voice, but more than that was disappointment and sorrow.

“Why was he here?” asked Harry, confusion on his face as he glanced towards the goat, which had awoken again and was sedately chewing on the blue robe it was still wearing.

“With the best of intentions, I truly believe,” came Remus’ soft voice, resulting in a snort from Sirius. A glance and a smile towards his old friend, before Remus continued, “the best of intentions, but without the best of information. The Headmaster has played a very risky game with your life, manipulating it towards a specific end goal. This end goal. I believe he was quite pleased with himself when you arrived…though had he been as close to you as we, and seen the anguish you had gone through as keenly, he may well have been less so. He would have told you that you must decide between two options. To move forward, or to go back.”

Harry looked towards his mother, his eyes gazing into the mirrors of her own green gaze. She smiled, a single eyebrow raising, a mischievous look on her own expression. With a sudden realization, he asked, “Those aren’t my only options though. Are they?”

“I told you he’d figure it out!” James exulted, laughing as he grabbed his son’s shoulder. “Thankfully, you inherited your brains from your mother,” he grinned.

Lily smiled, taking Harry’s hand, and leading him over to a bench away from the goat and the horrible, cringing thing, sitting down as the others sat down around them. “Hermione was on the right track when she said that legends tend to have some basis in reality so long ago about the Chamber of Secrets, Harry. You both seem to have forgotten that somewhat though, when it came to the Hallows. The legend has become somewhat distorted through the years. The part about ‘Master of Death’ was a misinterpretation or misunderstanding, or maybe simply an embellishment someone wanted to add to the story. Gathering the Hallows was a way to summon the avatar of Death to be judged.”

At Harry’s slightly panicked look, James laughed and placed a hand on his son’s knee, squeezing reassuringly. “Not the fire and brimstone, what the Rat and Snake-Face deserve sort of judgment, Harry. You could almost think of it as a job interview, to be the Goddess’ champion. Though that implies a significantly more permanent relationship than it might be. The legend tends to fade into obscurity and resurface with the ebb and flow of certain…patterns…in the world.”

Remus, his voice taking on the soft cadence he would use when he was teaching, smiled slightly as he said, “It’s a lot to take in Harry. Don’t worry, we’ve all the time in all the worlds while we’re here. Death is not what many make her out to be, a figure of darkness and evil. But neither is she what most would call ‘good’ or ‘light’. She is an impartial force, which ushers souls who have spent their time on Earth onwards, to whatever it is that will await them beyond that life.”

“But what is that?” asked Harry, his voice uncertain, “what happens next?” But four heads where shaking, his mother’s eyes sorrowful.

“I’m sorry Harry, we can’t say. While we’re here with you, we know some things, but much is forgotten. When you called us with the stone, we were even more limited, because it is not a true gateway between like this place is.” Her gaze wandered, and a smile played across her lips, “I’m not surprised it’s King’s Cross though. That has always been the gateway between worlds for you,” she added as she took his hands and squeezed, sorrow in her eyes.

For a time, they sat in silence as Harry thought about it, “So I can…go on. Go with all of you. Or somehow I can go back, and keep fighting Voldemort. Try to finish it.” His voice was weary, burdened by pain and the hopelessness that had plagued him since the months and months carrying the necklace. “But there’s another option. Something to do with Death?”

“The Hallows were called forth in the last cycle by one of our ancestors Harry, the father of the Peverell brothers in the legend. He passed them on to his sons when they went out into the world on their own and much of the rest of the story is as you heard it. Death has always smiled upon the line of Ignotus, who greeted her at his end not as a vanquished enemy, but as a welcome companion. The cloak was changed when it passed to his son then, and it is bound to the blood of Ignotus’ line, and as you are aware, the Potter’s are the last of that bloodline.” He grinned then, “a fact I had no idea of at all when I was alive, I assure you. It was a wonderful tool for pranking, and I had rather hoped you’d enjoy it in the same way one day!”

A light slap from Lily to chide her husband, before she took over the explanation once more, “The cloak is passed by birthright, which is why no one has been able to unite the Hallows in so long despite men like Albus and Grindlewald hunting for them. They didn’t really understand their purpose anyway, but even so. The Fates are involved, which is why that damned prophecy even exists, so it was always to be an heir of Potter, who was next to unite them. You, Harry. The cloak by blood, the stone by possession, and the wand by battle. Malfoy disarmed Dumbledore, and you then defeated and disarmed young Draco. The power of the wand is almost a sentience, at least when it comes to who its rightful master is, and it was aware instantly that you had defeated Draco, and its loyalty shifted to you in that moment, before that bastard went grave robbing.”

“And so,” came a new voice, and Harry turned quickly to see a woman standing off to the side, “we find ourselves here.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

She was, if Harry were to have to describe her physical appearance, unremarkable. Neither tall nor short, but rather of a medium height. Her features were soft, without being pudgy, her figure slender but not unhealthily so. She seemed almost immediately to remind him of someone, a familiarity that he couldn’t place, but not so strikingly so that it would bother him. She was dressed in robes of a soft gray, the hood back but the woman’s medium length hair matching almost perfectly with the gray of the robes. As if to make up for how unremarkable everything else about her appeared, her eyes were almost defiantly extraordinary. Instead of color where her iris would be, he could clearly see the earth, and in the moment he could stand to meet her gaze, even see that the world spun slowly as her gaze was ever upon it. No pupils were present at all, as her gaze fell upon Harry, and in that moment when their eyes met he was utterly overwhelmed with the presence of her, and the sense that she could see every moment of his life in that single gaze.

She smiled slightly as he looked away from her eyes, and he could feel the weight of her gaze lift off of him then. “Well met, my supplicant. Yet unanointed as Champion, and even so you have nearly completed the stern calling of Fate. I am well pleased with you, descendent of Peverell.” She smiled then, and looked to the family gathered around him, both those of birth and those of choice. “Rest easy, dear ones. The decision is partly made already, and you may spare your worry,” she said as she waved a hand slightly. The train that had sat waiting to carry him onward, was suddenly simply not there any longer. Even as he realized it, he knew that he would never have boarded that train. “Your son carries your spirit truly in his heart,” said the woman to his parents, “and would never turn his back upon the task unfinished or the foe unvanquished, to leave to others to finish his deed and risk the working in the process.”

A moment of confusion passed through Harry as he felt his parents relax on either side of him, before his mother was hugging him again, “One day Harry. But we want you to live first,” she said fiercely.

Death smiled again, “Indeed, but not in this moment. Which brings us to the choice before you, young supplicant. You have served me, and served Fate, without the blessings that were meant to be upon you for the task. The ‘power he knows not’ as the skein was read. The rituals and foul magicks worked by Thomas Riddle tore and snarled the tapestry, damaging the weaving and fouling the pattern. Think upon the ripples spreading across the surface of a pond, and it would not be far from accurate. These ripples spread outward and reverberate across one another, increasing the intensity until the tranquil pool roils and churns with the damage done, overflowing its banks. In this case, the damages done lead to the exposure of the hidden magical world to the rest of the world in a way that leads to immediate bloodshed and war. I cannot speak to you of what path the world will take beyond that point, as it is too far ahead to see the weaving of the tapestry.”

“This, because of the tangling of the skein. That tangle though is what allows your choice, as fulfilment of debt and boon owed by the Fates and Death both.” A look passed between Death and Lily, before Death gave a slight nod and stepped back, waiting in silence.

“Harry. You can go back to a few moments after…after what happened. Or you can go back farther. Much farther. Only when you go back, you’ll be granted boons to help prepare you for the tasks you will face. What is within the power of Death and Fate to grant.” The slight way she emphasized the names caused Harry’s eyes to narrow and then widen as a sudden suspicion flared in him.

“Ma’am?” he asks, looking towards Death where she stood waiting, “could. Could the boon give me people to train me so that I am capable of fighting properly?” The Goddesses face remained entirely impassive, waiting, “people who have already…died.” A long, lingering moment of silence before she bowed her head slightly in acknowledgement, “those who have left the world are mine in my power,” she acknowledged, reaching out one hand. A new figure appeared at her side, the young woman drawing two shimmering threads from the air, the ends of which seemed to fade into and out of existence without a definitive start and ending point.

“There will always be weakness, where the threads were cut, but they have been respun from that point,” she said in a voice that seemed to be layered with two others. “The tapestry has begun to unravel, your Champion has chosen his fate and we will all see if he may correct the tangling of the weave.” Her eyes turned to Harry, “we shall watch most carefully the threads of the weave. The pattern will alter, do not depend upon the weave you have known. These are my boon unto you,” she said, holding up the two glimmering threads. “My sisters boons will come as the weaving is worked.” And with that, she was gone once again.

“But,” and Harry looked to Remus and Sirius, worry and despair in his eyes.

“We’ll still be alive already Harry, we won’t remember any of this. Any of what happened, but it’s okay,” Remus assured.

“You’ll just have to find us and catch us up on things, Pup,” added Sirius with a grin.

“When… How far back?” Harry began, before his father reached to place a hand gently on his shoulder.

“Harry. Your mother and I have…always been with you. Always watching you. I…we know what you’ve been through growing up with…them. I wish we could go all the way back, back to when you were a baby and give you the life you should have had.” He said with eyes heavy with sorrow. Looking to Lily, the tears were already rolling down her cheeks.

“If we do that though, it undermines part of the power you will have. I know you hate being famous, but we’ll be there to support you and help you deal with it this time. But everything until you go to Hogwarts needs to stay the same…” Her eyes moved to Sirius then, sorrow in them for her friend as well, “We’ll get you out as soon as we can Padfoot,” she promised as she wrapped her arms around Harry.

“Relax Lily, Prongs,” he grinned, “I already did twelve years in Azkaban, so I know I can survive it. And it’s not like I’ll actually be living it again or anything,” he points out. “For me, nothing will change really.”

“Before though, there’s a spell you need to learn Harry,” grinned Remus with a decidedly wolfish look to him.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Great Hall, September 1st, 1991_ =-=-=-

“Not Slytherin, eh?” said the small voice of the hat, “Are you sure?” The voice though trailed off, as something in the boy it was sorting…changed. “Well, this is…”

Whatever the hat was going to say though, wasn’t heard by the boy or anyone else as the sound of a tremendous bell tolled two notes through the Great Hall. At the head table, Dumbledore and the others sat forward with a start, even more focused than they had been a moment before upon the sorting of the Boy Who Lived.

Harry opened his eyes, as memories of his future came flooding into his eleven year old mind. His eyes fluttered up into his head, lolling on the stool as Professor McGonagall leapt forward to steady him.

At the same time, at the end of the head table, Professor Quirrel lurched to his feet, staggering to the side door of the Great Hall and through it, no attention paid to the man’s flight.

A second time the great bell tolled, two ringing notes, as the candles floating above the table were blown out by a sudden wind whipping through the Great Hall, the enchanted ceiling above glowing brighter as the clouds rolled back and the moon bathed the chamber in shimmering brilliance.

“Albus! What is this!?” demanded McGonagall as she tried to hold Harry upright.

As the bell began to toll the third time, Harry suddenly surged upwards off of the stool, the sorting hat still on his head as he whipped the wand he’d never attempted a spell with out of his robe, “Accio Wormtail!” he shouted, as Scabbers the rat came flying free of Ron Weasley’s robe pocket, hurtling through the air and into Harry’s grip. A flash of red light later and it was still.

The sudden movement and spell were practically lost though, as a figure in white robes appeared in the doorway of the great hall, the doors still closed behind her. Her long red hair whipped and swirled in the wind that was now howling through the Great Hall.

“Lily!” squeeked tiny Professor Flitwick in shock, tumbling from his seat as Snape surged up from his own.

“What is the meaning of this!?” roared Dumbledore, over the noise of the wind. But his question was forestalled as the tremendous bell rang three notes.

“Professor, help me, please,” pleaded Harry to the stern faced Scottish Head of House, “it’s him..” he said, holding up the rat, “but I don’t know if I’m strong enough for the spell yet..” He laid the stunned rat down on the stool, “resurgemus forma hominis,” he said, feeling the magic flow out of him in a torrent as the spell Remus had taught him in that between place hit the rat, forcing the stunned Pettigrew back into his human form. This time, McGonagall had to catch him as he started to fall, holding his unconscious form up as the bell’s sonorous chime sounded three more times.

“Mr. Potter! Harry, what?!” called Minerva as she supported the boy, her shocked gaze looking to the figure of Lily Potter walking down between the tables like some avenging ghost given form, towards the head table. By now the students in the great hall had scrambled to either side, house tables abandoned as they crowded away from whatever was going on. The last few first years waiting to be sorted were huddled near the doorway they’d come through, looking on uncertainly, Ron Weasley not even yet having realized his rat was gone in the chaos and distractions.

“Ten points to Gryffindor,” quipped Lily, glancing towards her former head of house with a smirk, “but you should know better than to ask about the bells, Headmaster,” she said as her focus turned back to the ancient wizard who was already pulling his wand out.

But even as he was drawing the elder wand forth, the third tolling of threes resounded through the castle, as another figure appeared at Lily’s side, sending a second shockwave through the staff at the table. “James?” asked Albus, shock in his voice, his wand still held ready.

“It’s a bit early in the year for me to be Saint Nicholas, don’t you think?” smirked James, his robes as white as his wifes beside him, as the candles relit throughout the hall and bathed the vast space in golden light once more. He raised his hand high so that it was visible to all in the Great Hall before calling out in a clear, commanding tone, “I call upon the magics of the House of Potter to recognize me as rightful Lord of the House of Potter and return to me that which is mine!” In a flash of light, the signet of the House of Potter was on his finger and visible to all in the Hall, confirming his identity. Few, save Dumbledore, noticed his wand appearing in his other hand at the same time. With a quick glance to his wife, Lily was moving to Harry, gathering his fainted form into her arms as Madam Pomfrey was already making her way down to the boy quickly, skirting the goings on in the center of the room.

As she passed the boy to Lily, McGonagall’s eyes were on the dumpy figure laying over the stool. Two steps and she’d pulled the sleeve of Pettigrew’s robe up, nearly snarling as she saw the dark mark and many things became suddenly very clear that had troubled her for so long about her lost Lions. “Incarcerous Horriblis” she growled, as ropes wrapped around the unconscious form before they began to meld together, flowing over his body entirely until he was completely encased in a rubbery, skin tight confinement that hardened like steel, leaving only a mesh breathing hole and two clear ‘lenses’ for the captive to see through.

Into the stunned silence that fell over the Great Hall, the hat began to laugh, drawing all attention to it in the process. “Well, after all of that, I think it goes without saying that it had better be, GRYFFINDOR!” the hat called out.

And in the back hallways beyond the Great Hall, a long smear of ashes across the stones of the floor and the remnants of a partially burned turban were the only hint that Professor Quirrel had been at the school, or that the thing that was inhabiting him had once again fled from death.


	2. A Tale of Two Harry's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry awakens in the hospital wing, learning more about the new normal of his life as events begin to unfold more rapidly at Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first ever attempt at writing a fan fic, and I hope you'll be gentle.
> 
> Oh, and Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Duh. (everyone seems to include this, figured I should too, just in case you've never read a book before)

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hospital Wing, September 3rd, 1991_ =-=-=-

The first thing he became aware of, struggling up out of the depths of a sleep deeper than he could recall ever having been in, was a song. It started as a thing tickling at the back of his mind while he wandered the hallways of memories not his own, glimpsing faces he both recognized and did not. At times they were frightening, while at other times they filled him with joy and hope. But there was something sad to the dreams, a sense of loss and separation, mingled with a hope for their return. Behind it all though, was that song, a thing that tugged him back beyond the part of his life he could remember and filled him with security and joy.

When he managed to open his eyes, he could see the source of the song, the beautiful young woman with flowing red hair, sitting beside his bed and humming quietly as she held his hand. Her face was turned away, but at the faint stirrings of his form on the bed, she turned her eyes back to him and smiled.

It was a moment that would be ingrained in his mind for the rest of his life as he looked into eyes that perfectly matched his own, his vision suddenly blurred with tears as he said, “Mum?”

“Good morning sleepy head,” she said with a grin, shifting up from her seat to settle on the side of his bed as he rolled onto his back. Her hands slid his glasses onto his face, allowing him to see the room around him better, realizing it must be some sort of hospital or infirmary. Opening his mouth, he started to ask a question, only for all of the questions to pile up on top of each other and no noise to emerge, his desperately confused look turning to his mother. She seemed to understand immediately, “You’re in the hospital wing at Hogwarts,” she said quietly, “you’ve been asleep almost a day and a half now because you used up more magic than was healthy. Madame Pomfrey assured me that when you woke on your own, you would be recovered enough to be quite safe.” Reaching out and brushing her fingers through his perpetually messy hair, her voice was gentle as she asked, “How much do you remember, Harry?”

The question sparked something, a tingling at the back of his mind as another part of him seemed for a moment to answer, “It’s…jumbled. It’s fading quickly into the subconscious, impressions mostly. Little things,” he looked around, a frown on his lips. “I remember being here in this bed a lot, but I’ve never been here.” He looked uncertainly at his mother, “and I know… I remember the decision. At least that I made the decision, but not the details of it. I know I came back, but not what I came back from. I know you’re here because of that. And Dad. There are others too, but I can’t remember their names yet.” He shook his head uncertainly, before watching as his mother drew a slender wand from inside her sweater sleeve, realizing that she wasn’t wearing the robes everyone he’d seen at Hogwarts wore as she silently made a few fast motions with her wand. “Muffliato…” he thought out loud at one of them, drawing a smile and a wink from his mother. As an opaque shimmer cut them off from the rest of the hospital wing, she pulled a folded parchment tied with a black ribbon and sealed with wax from her pocket, handing it to him.

Uncertainly, he looked at the seal, imprinted with a set of scales. A deep breath, and he broke the seal and began to read a handwriting he immediately recognized as his own.

_Dear Harry,_

_This is the most confusing letter we’ve ever written, and likely ever will. It doesn’t help that we’re under some fairly significant restrictions on what we can write down and the letter still be allowed to be delivered. Right now, your head is probably hurting like mad, stuffed full of things that you remember happening even though they haven’t, and hopefully won’t. Those are the echoes of me, the you from May the Second, Nineteen Ninety-Eight. I know they’re confusing right now, but they’ll fade as time goes on, becoming more like how you remember a dream._

_It means that the version of us that is writing this letter won’t really exist anymore, except as a dream you had when you were younger. Or a nightmare, I guess. Sort of a bit of both, really. Ask Hermione about ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ when you get to know her, the opening is rather an apt explanation._

_You need to know some things, many of them Mum and Dad would have told you, but they wouldn’t understand how we feel. Right now, while we’re both in there, I have a chance to make sure we really understand what’s at stake, and why I decided to do things this way instead of just sending the old me back into the young me. Wow, that’s confusing._

_Voldemort, or ‘He Who Must Not be Named’ as most of the people in your life will call him, is not dead. Not all the way. It’s sort of like Princess Bride, and mostly dead just doesn’t cut it. Wait. I don’t know if we’ve seen that yet… Anyway, he’s going to keep trying to come back. Mom and Dad will explain more of the why, but the bottom line is that it is our problem and we’re going to have to deal with it one day, probably sooner rather than later._

_But from the point Mom and Dad came back to life, everything will change. Which is a huge part of why my memories are going to fade into more of impressions and intuition. They would only set you up to expect things to work out the way they did before, when the chances of that happening for anything are so slim that even Bagman wouldn’t bet on them. (You’ll meet him maybe, one day. If you don’t, believe me, you didn’t miss out at all)._

_You are stepping into a whole new world, entirely different from the one I lived through, and I’m not going to weigh us down with baggage that won’t help. But I know what we’re like, and I have learned some things that absolutely will help even if the sun is coming up in the west tomorrow morning instead of the east._

_First, Harry. You will never go back to the Dursleys. No matter what else happens, Mum will make sure of that. When we were little we had to stop doing well in school or get beaten for doing better than Dudley. But that will never happen again, and it’s a habit we would be happier if we got rid of. Do your best! I never got to show Mum and Dad good marks in school, but you can for both of us!_

_Second, I know how bad you want to have friends. To fit in. But remember how bad we wished that someone would stand up for us when Dudley and his friends would pick on us and worse? Don’t be the sort of person who watches in silence as someone picks on people, just because the one doing it is someone you think of as a friend. If you stand up for what is right and they stop being your friend for it, they weren’t the sort of friend you really wanted to have anyway._

_Next is the most important thing of all. The most important person of all. Remember the bossy girl with the bushy hair from the train? No one you will ever meet will be a more faithful friend, a more loyal companion, or a more valuable ally than Hermione. She has stood by me from the first moment our lives connected. Through all the good times, but even more through all of the bad. She has fought, cried and bled for me more times than I could hope to count and if we get to live a dozen lifetimes, we could never repay all that we owe her. And right now, she is desperately lonely, entirely friendless, and thinking she made a huge mistake coming to Hogwarts. And that’s not even counting that I imagine the sorting feast was a shock for everyone. She is the friend you have wished for all your life, and she needs you to show her you can be the friend she has longed for. Do better than I did Harry._

_There are a few others I want to mention – first is Ron. He can be a great guy, but he can also be a total git. Don’t just sit and let him be a prat in silence, you need to be the sort of friend who helps him realize when he does something wrong and grow to be something better. Then there’s Neville. He needs friends who will believe in him, and who will stand up for him. Trust me Harry, it will be worth it. Luna and Ginny, well, you won’t really meet them until next year. They’re both great people and believe me that you won’t regret getting to know them. Even if it is a bit awkward at first, stick to it, they’ll loosen up and grow on you. Luna could use your help, when you start to have suspicions go to Flitwick and tell him if he doesn’t fix it, you’re going to sick Mum on him._

_Last is…well. Draco Malfoy. Look, honestly, I can’t stand the prat. But I’ve also not handled things with him well. Ask Dad to tell you about the Marauders and Snivellus, and how that worked out. You may never manage to be friends, but try to bring him around to not being an enemy Harry, I can’t know for sure but I suspect it may have been my single greatest failure in my own try at this._

_There’s so much more I wish I could say, Harry. But I lived my life, and this one is yours to live. In a way, I’ll be there with you, but then I am you, so how could I not be. But this is probably the last time we’ll get to ‘talk’, so Harry, believe me when I say that you’re strong enough for what is coming. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, and it never will when you face the challenges ahead of you, but I’m proof that you are strong enough to make it through. Believe in yourself. Believe in your friends. Believe in your family._

_I know you’ll make me proud,_

_-Harry_

_p.s. Letters to yourself are very strange to write. -H_

As Harry finished reading the letter, the parchment began to darken, then crumble from between his fingers into a fine dust, scattering upon the light breeze that ruffled suddenly through the infirmary. A moment later, the letter was gone, but Harry knew that the words would be with him for the rest of his life.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The last of the dust that had been the letter from his future self had barely finished scattering into oblivion, when Harry turned to look at his Mum, only to see an old woman at the bedside beside them. Her face reminded him of McGonagall with the stern expression, as though this was, most definitely, a woman not to be trifled with. Her features were deeply wrinkled, her eyes dark, and a pair of shears hung at her belt. “The Tapestry is trimmed, the casting offs collected. The damaged threads have been trimmed and rewoven. Look then,” she said, holding out her hand in which countless strands of thread were collected. Indeed, as he tried to look, it seemed that the pile went on endlessly somehow, without ever overflowing from her wizened old hand. “Thrice times twice and once again, he who tangled the weave tied himself into the weaving. Thrice times twice and once again, my boon shall I grant to thee Champion. Err I cast these leavings into the oblivion of never was, from them select, once for each of the knots undone. The one who flees his fate decreed, tugs and pulls at the threads we weave, tangling them into his dark purpose. Therefor shalt thou have these few, their number to anchor the weave once more true.” Her stern gaze moved up, eyes alighting upon the scar upon his forehead. “The first knot untangled, the weakest, an accident of a fool’s folly. No longer linked, nevermore spared, guard well thy life Champion. Once for once, and so the choice.” And with that, moved her hand forward closer to Harry.

“Mum?” Harry asked, uncertain in that moment, trying to puzzle out just what the old woman meant. His eyes moved towards hers, searching for aid from Lily.

“I think they will get some of their memories from what the world was like,” she said quietly. “We weren’t told what the boons of the other two fates would be.” She looked towards the crone, “I do not know your proper name, only that the Greek called you Atropos. Am I understanding correctly?” At a slight nod from the stern old woman, she turned back to Harry. “Clotho, the spinner, restored mine and your father’s threads at Death’s behest. Atropos is the one who trims the threads at the end of their lives. She seems to be giving you back a few of those who would be able to help you. I don’t know what Lachesis might grant as boon,” she began before the stern old woman cut her off.

“My sisters’ boons have been granted thee, woven and threaded through all thou see. Two threads begged child, and granted be, thy parents restored unto thy need. The weft rethreaded, the weaving redone, the pattern corrected is a work just begun. To that task she toils, and with each passing of the shuttle seeks to guide the threads to further restore. Thy last boon from Fate waits beyond, discovered or missed at thy own actions revealed.” Her hand moved forward again, more insistent this time, “Choose,” her inexorable voice commanded.

A slightly more panicked look towards his mother this time only produced a smile, “It is your decision Harry. Follow your heart and trust in both of yourselves.”

With a gulp, he looked back to the threads, realizing that as he looked at them, he could see people. Faces he knew and recognized jumping out amidst the millions he did not. But as he looked, he realized that he didn’t really have to think about it. Or at least, some part of him didn’t, and both parts were smiling as they plucked a thread from amongst the pile.

There was a small, golden flash as the thread vanished from his hand, and the woman vanished from the bedside.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“So, what have I missed?” asked Harry, now sitting up in his bed and eating a late breakfast while Madame Pomfrey hovered over him, casting several diagnostic spells in his direction.

“Well, classes have been postponed for a week due to the chaos we’ve caused, which has your father nearly beside himself with glee. He says it’s the first time he managed a prank so good classes had to be cancelled.” A fond rolling of her eyes accompanied the comment, “he’ll be up soon I’m sure, I sent him a messenger patronus while calling for some breakfast for you. Things have settled down here a bit, but yesterday was quite another matter. Your father has been dealing with proving that we are who we claim to be, while I’ve been watching over you. Fudge came by to bluster at us and demand this and that, even claiming you were some sort of Dark Wizard to have summoned us. Dumbledore has been asking questions but seems to finally have accepted that we not only won’t, but are incapable of answering questions about what happened to us. Getting knocked unconscious and a horrid nosebleed when he tried to force his way into your father’s mind with legilimency seems to have done the trick nicely. James said it looked painful enough that he wasn’t even going to bother yelling at the old goat about it.” She paused to consider what else had been going on, “Three representatives of Gringotts arrived and used their own magics to confirm our identities, recognizing your father as rightful owner of the Potter vaults. At that point Fudge was all too eager to be friendly to our bank account, so quickly had the Ministry declare us returned to life. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. Madame Bones is still here at Hogwarts, investigating the mysterious presumed death of Professor Quirrel. Your father is addressing…other matters with her as well.”

She smiled, “For now, we’re just getting reestablished,” she said, leaning close and running her hand through Harry’s hair again. “We had some time to talk and plan last night, we both remember…well, most everything really. Apparently, we needed the knowledge to help you train and succeed, in part because you will more readily learn things you had already learned. We don’t remember anything beyond the train station though, apparently some things are always to be a mystery while we are alive.” Looking at him, a sad smile came across her face as she fell silent.

“Mum, what’s wrong?” Harry asked, worry gnawing at him suddenly.

“I just wish we could have gone all the way back,” she said, tears trailing down her cheeks, “give you the childhood you deserved.”

“Mum, it’s okay. I understand,” he grinned, “well, sort of. I don’t, but I did, and I explained it to me, so I’m sure I will. Besides, I don’t think an even younger me would have been able to cope with…all of this.”

Their conversation was interrupted as the door to the Hospital Wing opened, James Potter striding in with long steps as he moved towards Harry’s bed. Behind him trailed Dumbledore and several others. He recognized Professor McGonagall, but only vaguely remembered that the serious looking woman with the monocle was Madame Bones and the heavy fellow with the obnoxiously green bowler hat was Minister Fudge.

“How’re you feeling?” his father asked as he arrived, sliding one hand onto Lily’s shoulder. “You were starting to make me worry, lazing about all morning like that,” he grinned teasingly.

“I’m fine…dad,” Harry said, testing the word out. The grin from his father was immediate and huge, and made Harry smile back, “how long do I have to stay in the Hospital Wing?”

“You are quite recovered, Mister Potter,” responded Madame Pomfrey before looking at James, “and I do hope you will be less prone to mischief than your father before you, so that perhaps I will not be seeing you in here all too often? Though, considering you managed to break the record for fastest trip to the Hospital Wing for a new student, I suppose it is likely I should simply go ahead and have a plaque made and designate a bed for your use.” She clucked her tongue as she bustled back to her office.

“Well then, young Mister Potter, you gave us quite the fright. Quite glad to see you up and about, yes, quite glad indeed,” huffed the Minister, moving towards the bed only to be intercepted by James.

“Ah, Minister, we thank you so much for all the kindness and concern you’ve shown to us and our son. I assure you, we will not forget everything that you’ve done,” he said with a large smile, reaching out to grasp the Minister’s hand while his other settled on the mans shoulder, already starting to turn him away from the bed. “Would it be possible that you could inform the Ministry that Harry is fully recovered and quite well, and excited to begin his term at Hogwarts? I’m sure a man in your position knows all the appropriate departments who would need to be informed as to his condition after the excitement, and there really is no one else I could think of entrusting such a matter to.” Harry noticed Madame Bones trying to keep a small smile from tugging at her lips.

“Oh, oh of course, Lord Potter,” the Minister assured, his eyes practically lighting up at the thought of being the one quoted in the Daily Prophet with the good news. “I will see to it at once, and please, do not hesitate to call upon me at any hour!” And with that, the man quickly left the Hospital Wing, eager for his appointment with headlines.

“Really, Mister Potter, will you never grow up?” asked Professor McGonagall exasperatedly, unable to hide the small upwards tugging of the corner of her lips as she shook her head.

“What, I was entirely honest. Can you think of anyone more suitable to being an errand boy?” asked his father with exaggerated innocence, “or anything better for the man to do? Besides, he was underfoot and getting on my nerves, and he absolutely will not be having access to my son. Not while he holds court with the likes of Malfoy and Nott.”

“Besides, it will keep him distracted while we deal with the matter of Sirius Black,” added Madame Bones. “I’ve sent Moody and his new trainee out to see to it he’s moved out of the High Security cells. It will take some time to sort all of this out, no matter how much we might wish it otherwise, but at least it gets him away from the Dementors. I will arrange for a staff healer and mind healer to see to him and begin evaluating how best to help his recovery. In the meantime, Pettigrew is enjoying the hospitality of our animagus proofed holding facility.” She smiled then, looking far younger in the moment of the expression, “I don’t think he found this morning’s headline or the pictures enjoyable, which is a shame since someone saw fit to adhere it to the window of his cell with a sticking charm.”

“We must, at the least, be thankful that his mother passed several years back,” said Dumbledore quietly with a sad shake of his head. “It would have destroyed her to know what her son had done; you recall how she doted upon the boy.”

“Why don’t we focus on other matters,” suggested Lily quietly, with a glance towards where Harry was sitting now on the edge of the bed, eager to be out of it. “I’d like to wrap things up as quickly as possible so we can take Harry home for a while, since the term is delayed until Monday. Though I suppose we will need to make arrangements for repairs before either the cottage or the manor are habitable,” she added with a sigh.

As Dumbledore and McGonagall’s gazes slid over to James, Harry noticed his father looking anywhere but at Lily. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, “James, dear. Is there something you’d like to tell me?” she asked in a dangerously sweet and charming tone.

“Ahh, well, you see love… It’s like this,” he hemmed around trying to avoid answering the question.

“The best we can figure is whatever you two did is most likely what killed Quirinus Quirrel, though it appears entirely to have been a byproduct and no evidence supports any of you being at fault. The remains are so steeped in dark magic that the Unspeakables have removed them from the castle for disposal. We also found unicorn blood and several dark artifacts in his private quarters, within a rune array that hid them from the Hogwarts wards.” She grinned, “What James is avoiding telling you is that Professor McGonagall guilt tripped him into agreeing to taking the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor.”

“Only until they can find someone else!” James was quick to jump in, “besides, it’s like you said…the cottage is wrecked, and the manor isn’t much better. Plus, we can be close to Harry!” The last part was rattled out quickly as he looked towards his wife’s stormy face, playing his trump card while he still could.

For a few long moments, silence reigned over the Hospital Wing. Then Lily turned to Harry, “Finish getting dressed dear,” she said, her wand suddenly in hand and flicking almost negligently as she stood up away from the bed. The curtains closed and Harry let out a surprised squawk as the hospital gown flew off and his clothes practically flew onto his body. Hopping down as his trainers finished tying themselves, his mother looked him over briefly and gave another quick wave of her wand. The oversized shoes, patched with duct tape, mended themselves and shrank comfortably to his feet while the rest of his clothes adjusted more subtly, leaving him grinning as he breathed out, “That was awesome,” in an excited tone.

“Show off,” grumbled James with an amused look at his wife, before she sniffed at him.

“Come along Harry,” she said, slipping an arm around his shoulder as she started to lead him towards the door of the Hospital Wing. “I suppose you’ll have to start getting used to this part of being a Potter. Your father has done something foolish and ill planned again, so it’s up to us to fix it and keep him out of trouble.” She shook her head, sweeping regally out of the Hospital Wing with Harry in tow, the others falling in to follow her. “Accepting a position knowing full well it’s cursed, what sort of plan is that?” she asked, Harry looking at her, trying to decide if he was supposed to answer or not. Deciding on not, he simply worked to keep up with her long strides, unable to hide the grin on his face, not even noticing the looks of awe or fear directed at the group as they swept through the corridors.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Defence Corridor, September 3rd, 1991_ =-=-=-

They all stopped at the doorway into the Defense classroom as Lily walked boldly into the room, her wand starting to sweep and swish around in complex patterns, the very vision of confidence as she set to work.

“Always better than me with charms, your mother,” said James to Harry, “especially when she’s in a bit of a temper,” he added more quietly as he leaned in closer.

“I heard that,” came her voice, her casting not slowing.

James just winked at Harry, who grinned, neither paying attention to the Headmaster and Professor McGonagall who both looked a bit shocked at the incredibly complex charms work being done in the classroom. “Professor Flitwick was working with your mother to obtain her Mastery credentials before we went into hiding. I quite imagine he’ll be even more eager to do so now,” James smiled with obvious pride as a series of runic patterns began to glow set into the stones of the floor and ceiling of the classroom.

“Aha, and there we are. They’ve been strengthened quite recently,” she said with a smirk, “James, do be a dear and tidy up your classroom, won’t you?”

For his part, James smiled as he pulled out his own wand, and the stones of the floor and ceiling began to flow and shift, reshaping and erasing the runic patterns in the process as James destroyed the medium upon which they were inscribed rather than attempting to counter them. Glancing back at Professor McGonagall, he winked before saying to Harry, “my good subject was always Transfiguration. Well, that and detention, spent quite a lot of time in detention.”

“Well, I must say that was quite an impressive display from the both of you,” said Dumbledore, a speculative look upon his face. “Since the matter is taken care of, I shall leave you to a well deserved and far too long overdue reunion,” and Harry was certain that as the old man turned away with a smile, he could see tears gathering behind those half-moon spectacles.

“I should be going as well,” smiled McGonagall, “All things considered, I rather thought you wouldn’t want to occupy the former defense professors’ quarters until they have been quite thoroughly examined and cleared. The Gryffindor Head of House Chambers are available though, and I would be most pleased if you would use them.” A sly smile on her lips as she added, “in fact, you would be welcome to them for as long as you had need, since I am living in the Deputy chambers. Albus has assured me the floo has been activated for your use at need, and I’m sure you still remember the way.” She turned to begin walking away, “oh, and Mr. Potter,” she said to Harry, a soft smile on her lips and her own eyes a bit misty. “The password for the portrait your parents will show you to later is ‘hope never dies’.”

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I think setting up a classroom is definitely a problem for another day,” said James, “we have quite a lot to be getting on with that is more pressing.” Turning into the classroom he gave a swish of his wand, causing all of the windows to open fully. “Besides, it smells like garlic in here. Let’s let it air a day or two.”

They had just turned to start walking back up the corridor and towards the Gryffindor tower, when a tapestry at the side of the hallway shifted. Lily and James were both already drawing their wands, but even they weren’t quick enough to stop the bushy, brown haired missile that impacted into Harry, sobbing as she clung to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that Harry did not know about the boon of the third aspect of Fate, when he wrote the letter to himself. The letter is what Future Harry thought was most important to give to his young self, the best advice he could. The boons will quite likely help tremendously with achieving that advice.
> 
> Next chapter (at least I think so): Hermione's memories from Fate, getting into Gryffindor (yes, Ron still snores), James and Lily make plans, and our first glimpse of Sirius. In case you're wondering, Sirius is going to be no more insane than he was when he broke out in Prisoner of Azkaban, and significantly less blood thirsty since he'll get to see Pettigrew's justice. We might even see everyone's favorite wolf!
> 
> Sorry, I have a plan, but I'm bad at sticking to it. ;)


	3. Loneliness and Loose Threads

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling.
> 
> I never told you that the story would all be happiness and joy. It won't.
> 
> I hope this chapter makes sense, I didn't go into deep detail of each scene of the flashbacks since you know them already, except to add a few emotional contexts and points of view.
> 
> One of the major and recurring themes of this story is the question of, if you had the chance, what would you tell a younger you?

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Library, Morning of September 3 rd, 1991_ =-=-=-

Hermione sat alone in the Library, hidden at the very furthest table from the doors, a stack of books in front of her blocking her from the view of others. Not that there were any others in the Library, with classes delayed, a professor dead and the entire world turned up on its side, not even the most studious of Ravenclaws seemed keen to put in library time yet. The students who were worried about completing their summer assignments had long since finished them or crammed to complete them on the train. The result was a very lonely place for a very lonely girl.

All considered, she realized she had most definitely made a mistake. It had seemed so exciting, finally learning why all those strange things happened near her and learning that there was a special school, where she would finally fit in.

Only she didn’t.

Even on the train ride, she’d started to realize it, frustrated at the immaturity of the people around her. Disappointed when no one would discuss the curriculum or coming school year. She was excited to be sorted into Gryffindor, she’d secretly hoped to be after having read about Albus Dumbledore and how he championed the rights of muggleborn and non-human magicals.

But then everything had gone so horribly, horribly wrong. Not that she wasn’t excited, she realized that she had gotten to witness history. Had been there for an event that would be, most likely, immortalized in the next edition of Hogwarts, A History and numerous other books. But at the same time, it had been terrifying.

‘It’s no ones fault but your own!’ she berated herself, as memories of things that the other students seemed not to have noticed or paid attention to flitted through her mind. The rat. The same rat she’d seen that Ronald boy trying a fake spell on, had turned into a person. Harry had made it do that, and so far as she could tell there was no way to do that. The only thing that seemed to fit, was a book that talked about animagi, and a spell to force them into their own form. Which meant that creepy man had been sleeping in the compartment with them. She shuddered to think how long it might have been in the Weasley’s home, hidden and sneaking around. She’d heard that it was the older brother’s rat for years before being given to Ron.

And they had a little sister!

She could still imagine the sound of the bells too, they sounded just like the bells at the church when her grandmother died. They were so sad, they nearly made her cry in the great hall remembering it, though it seemed few of the students recognized the call of the funeral bells.

And then there were the Potters. Harry had seemed nice enough on the train, if a bit timid. But she’d seen him casting spells when he’d acted like he didn’t know any at all. And James and Lily Potter were dead. She had checked six different books in the Library, but now here they were walking around Hogwarts.

And the Professor that had tried to run out of the Great Hall, while everything else was going on, was apparently the one that was dead. No one even knew what had happened to him, but the rumors going around were truly fantastic and fairly horrifying.

She could have raised her head and soldiered on, if it was just all of that. No, the real kick, the true reason she was hiding in the library just like she’d done most of her childhood, was her dorm mates. She’d overheard Lavender and Parvati this morning when they thought she was asleep, talking about how the ‘bookworm’ should have been sorted into Ravenclaw. Even here, a school for people like her, and she was going to be alone just like she’d always been. She would never have friends. Even just one, just one friend would be enough, if only she could just have one person who really cared.

Instead, she put her head down on the desk, hidden by the books around her, the only friends she’d ever known, and wept silently.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“It’s going to be okay,” said a quiet voice in her ear, the barest of whispers. Internally Hermione clenched, dreading what was to come. She’d had librarians reassuring her for years, trying to tell her it would be okay. And now here would be another, with her pity. She raised her head and turned, to stare into a pair of cinnamon brown eyes that she recognized. She would, she’d been looking into them all her life in the mirror.

She gave a start, pulling back and nearly falling from the chair, as she looked at the woman in front of her. She looked to be in her late teens, with the untamed mass of frizzy hair and the eyes she was so familiar with. Hermione’s eyes narrowed, only for her doppelganger to smile slightly, “We decided the time travel passphrase would be ‘Can’t call bagsy ‘til you’re eight’. Because Dad would never let us ride up front when we were little.”

Now, Hermione wasn’t really the paranoid sort, but when she’d written a book report in the third grade on a book about time traveling misadventures, she’d concluded that much of the mishap in the book could have been avoided by simple preventative planning ahead, determining a passphrase you never told another person to prove to yourself that you were you.

She hadn’t at all expected to ever actually use the passphrase, but strange things happened around her often as a child, and once she’d determined that a prudent person should have a pass phrase, well of course she’d decided what hers would be.

Eyes widening, she stared at the apparent older version of herself, opening her mouth to start the barrage of questions. “There’s a faster way,” said the older her. “In fact, that’s why I’m here. Some things have happened and you need more information to take care of the people we care about. But first,” her older self reached out, pulling her from the chair and into a strong hug, holding her. “It’s going to be okay. I know how bad I just wanted someone to tell me that today, even in my version,” said the older Hermione, her voice thick and nearing tears.

And then, in a flash of golden light, the world vanished from around them.

-=-=-= _An Exceptional Mind, The Endless Library, Outside of Time_ =-=-=-

Hermione looked around her, and as she did, the details of the space around her filled at nearly the speed of thought. The room that she was in was rather enormous, with shelf after shelf lining every wall, from floor to ceiling. Four huge pillars stood inside the room, wrapped in shelves and piled with books. Glancing at a few, she recognized many of the titles, but many more she had never heard of. A low wall with a fireplace stood near the middle of the room, and no sooner had she thought that it didn’t make sense for it not to have a chimney connection upwards, than she realized there was one. Only to consider it and come to the conclusion that the chimney had been added because she thought it should be there.

She looked towards the chair by the fireplace – her chair, the chair in the family room at home that she always loved to sit in and read. There was the older her, feet tucked up under herself with a massive book in her lap. She could see the title – Hogwarts, The History as she looked up to her older self. “This place isn’t real, but I don’t think I’ve gone mad.”

The young woman in the chair smiled, “No, not yet,” she assured, “though I’ve thought about it quite seriously a few times over the last several years. Now, I’m required to inform you that you have the choice to not read this book, and it will be destroyed.” She grinned, “I actually got them to say that if you said no the book would be destroyed,” she admitted, “because we both know we would never, EVER allow that. So here.” She held the book out towards her younger self, smiling eagerly.

Hermione considered it for a moment, and had to conclude that she was quite right. Beyond the simple need to know and understand, the idea that the book would be destroyed offended her down to the very core of her being. Even more so, when she could see the front of the book where the author was now visible, Hermione Jean Granger. She hesitated a moment though, looking at her older self with a prickling of intuition. “This is going to be very painful, isn’t it?” she asked.

“I’ll be right here with you through it all,” promised the older girl, as the younger took the book and opened it. The pages began to glow, turning on their own rapidly, as scene after scene of a life she’d left behind played out before her.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The incident with the feather and wingardium leviosa, sending her fleeing in tears for what she knew was just the most recent time.

Harry leaping onto the Trolls back, trying to distract it while calling out for her to run.

The room of potions, desperately hugging Harry and the terror of not knowing if he’d be okay.

Watching Harry being shunned by the entire school, over rumors.

Laying there, petrified, while Harry read her notes from class, knowing he didn’t know if she could even hear him.

Seeing Harry collapse from the Dementors, then hearing him talk about his mother’s screams.

The awful month when Harry and Ron were avoiding her because of the Firebolt.

Harry’s desperate excitement, hearing he would be able to leave those awful relatives of his to go live with the Godfather he’d met only hours before.

Seeing Harry conjure a patronis and drive away dozens of Dementors.

Flying with Harry, and not being afraid, as they rescued Sirius from death.

The time leading up to the First Task, as Harry’s only friend.

The half apology of Ron for his betrayal.

The Yule Ball, and all of the pain that went with it.

The embarrassment of the Second Task, and the jeering afterwards.

The absolute horror of the Third Task and what followed.

Harry being tortured by that awful toad of a woman.

The Department of Mysteries, and losing Sirius.

The arguments over a book, over notes someone scribbled in the margins.

The death of Albus Dumbledore.

The search for the Horcruxes, and Ron’s betrayal and return, his fumbling apology.

The battle of Hogwarts.

The memory of Harry, dead, carried in Hagrid’s arms as Voldemort declared victory, only for the world to start coming apart, fraying at the edges….her mind reeled back from that last memory, existential terror pulling away from what she had briefly glimpsed.

Images of Harry and Cho, then Harry and Luna, then Harry and Ginny. The aching in her heart, while at the same time hoping her best friend could find what he was needing.

Images of her and Victor, then her and Ron.

Image after image of Ron, and how he’d treated her, never really apologizing and never really stopping.

Finally, her face glistening with tears, the book tumbled from her grasp to fall to the floor, closing itself. The other her was there, wrapping her in her arms as she cried, “I don’t understand,” she stammered out between hiccoughing sobs, “WHY!?”

“Shhhhhh… It’s okay, shhhh,” the older girl cooed quietly, holding her until she calmed. Guiding her over to the chair and settling both of them in it, the chair simply wide enough for both of them because it needed to be. “It’s perspective,” said the older girl quietly. “It’s easy to see looking down from above, that a river twists and turns and winds all over the place. But if you’re a leaf on that river, it just seems to always flow forward.”

“You’re not supposed to be here, are you?” asked the younger Hermione, drawing a smile from the older girl.

“I’ve rather learned to relax about being quite so much of a stickler for the rules,” admitted the older, “Harry has a tremendous task ahead of him that no one else can do, and he was given a choice. Of everyone he could ask for, he wanted us back. Not Ginny, and not Ron. And as you realize, we’ve always tried our very best to help Harry.” She smiled, “and somehow I think we had help with this…I did. I wasn’t supposed to be able to write that book, or leave all of my memories in it. But we’re smarter than we are supposed to be Hermione.” She sighed, pushing her hand through her bushy hair, “when we were little, and started building this library. That’s what caused it,” she said quietly. “It’s a form of Occlumency, used to help sort and organize thoughts. Professor Dumbledore once said that ‘to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure’, but we may have gone overboard without really understanding what we were doing. That’s why all of the books I added to our library in my life, are in here in your library now. It’s why you could see the full, unfiltered version of what happened.” She paused, head tilting to the side as though thinking about something before adding, “there’s a part I can’t remember. After the end. But I don’t think either of us would be happy if we could remember it, or should try.”

“But Ron?” asked the younger Hermione with a sniffle, wiping her cheeks.

“He was a friend. I convinced myself he could be more, because I convinced myself that Harry couldn’t. That he didn’t want to be. But looking back, I know we missed so many chances because I was too scared to lose my best friend to take a risk.” She sighed quietly, “But, Harry would never abandon us. Not after Sirius and fourth year.”

“Does he remember, too?”

“No, and before we’re done here, we’re going to sort a lot of those memories into a book and put them in the restricted section. Mrs. Potter had the right idea on that, we’re going to be the ones with Harry, helping him choose his path each day.” She paused, smiling, “well I assume we are, it’s your decision of course, but I have a feeling I can guess what you’ll decide.” She considered, “expecting events to work a certain way will just mean we hesitate due to confusion when they don’t. And there are some things I’m going to seal until you’re stronger, magically, because they would hurt you to try and I know you would try them tonight if I left them in there,” she added with a grin.

A nod from the younger self, “As long as you unlock them when I’m strong enough to use them, or in an emergency.” She took a deep breath, trying to think. “So what now?”

Her older self smiled, a warm, happy smile as she pulled her closer. “There’s a boy in the castle who just got his mother and father back, but still doesn’t have any real friends, and I bet he’d just love to know he’s going to always have one…”

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Library, A Heartbeat Later_ =-=-=-

Hermione had never ignored an authority figure before in her life, but as Madam Pince yelled for her not to run, she paid the Librarian she would normally revere absolutely no heed. She wasn’t even sure how she found the secret corridor that ran above the kitchens, in which the twins had their hide away for their mischief. Neither were they, as they stared in shock at the firstie that had burst into the secret lair no one had found in two years.

“I need the map,” she blurted, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good, and I need the map, and if you don’t ask questions I’ll introduce you to Prongs before the end of the week!”

Where the twins had been shocked before, they were utterly gobsmacked now as they stared. Looking towards each other, they seemed to have a brief, silent conversation before the one on the left pulled a folded up piece of old parchment from inside his robe and handed it over.

“Thank you!” she yelled, already running away from them as she tapped the parchment and activated the map, slowing for a moment as she found who she was looking for.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Defense Corridor, A few minutes later_ =-=-=-

“Well, I don’t know about you two, but I think setting up a classroom is definitely a problem for another day,” said James, “we have quite a lot to be getting on with that is more pressing.” Turning into the classroom he gave a swish of his wand, causing all of the windows to open fully. “Besides, it smells like garlic in here. Let’s let it air a day or two.”

They had just turned to start walking back up the corridor and towards the Gryffindor tower, when a tapestry at the side of the hallway shifted. Lily and James were both already drawing their wands, but even they weren’t quick enough to stop the bushy, brown haired missile that impacted into Harry, sobbing as she clung to him.

Realization dawned in Lily first, and she reached out, catching James’ arm and lowering his wand back down before it pointed at the girl who was ‘attacking’ their son. “Ah… Hermione dear, this may not be the best place,” she said gently as she smiled, reaching out to lightly rub the distraught girls back.

“Ahhh, well now,” said James with an amused, excited note to his voice, “accio map,” he called softly, catching the parchment as it fluttered up off of the floor of the corridor, forgotten by the girl who was crying against his somewhat panicked looking son. “Hello old friend,” he said fondly to the map, before walking over to the tapestry and pulling it back aside. “Come along kids, I know a shortcut.”

“Uhm…Hermione,” stammered Harry quietly, only to see his Mom shake her head.

“Just steer her Harry, she needs a moment, it’s been rather a rough day I think.”

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor Heads Quarters, Before Lunch_ =-=-=-

“I’m sorry, Harry,” she said quietly, trying to wipe the tears from her face yet again. “Your mother is right, it’s been a very, very rough couple of days.”

They were settled around the table in the Gryffindor Head of House Quarters, sipping tea that a Hogwarts elf had provided, and Hermione had mostly calmed down. “I don’t even know why I was crying. I was just so happy to see you, and know you, and so sad at the same time because we’re not us.” She looked towards Lily, “Mrs. Potter, I need you to help me with occlumency. I’ve learned a lot from a couple of books and practice, but the only person we knew to teach us was Professor Snape, and he was..” She suddenly trailed off, eyes widening a bit as she considered the can of worms.

“Don’t worry about it dear,” assured Lily, smiling, “we know all about his…issues. James and I have agreed that he’s mine to deal with, if for no other reason than to keep James out of Azkaban.” She paused, looking at the young girl who had been mature far beyond her years even before absorbing the memories of her older self in their near entirety. “And Hermione dear, all things considered…It’s Lily.”

“And James when we’re in private, though I’ve been informed I will be required to go by Professor Potter in public settings while at Hogwarts,” he smirked with a shake of his head.

Hermione’s eyes widened, “You’re taking over Defense? Oh that’s brilliant, Professor Lupin was the only really good teacher we ever had that wasn’t planning to kill Harry…”

“Well, Snape actually wasn’t so bad at Defense,” interrupted Harry with a smirk, “and didn’t want me dead. Though that was mostly because it would mean he had to stop torturing me I think.”

“As I was saying, we need real instruction in Defense. I’m in the process of sealing away the events of the timeline, so that they won’t color my reactions or judgment, but I still have enough of it to know no one ever got us ready for what was coming.”

Lily was circling her wand over the Marauder’s map, still active on the table, in a slow intricate pattern as she mumbled charms under her breath. The only two Hermione could clearly make out were ‘Geminio Perfectus’ and ‘Specialis Exemplum’ as she cast charm after charm over the map. Finally though, there were four copies of the Marauder’s Map on the table instead of just the one.

“Remus is going to be so disappointed, he tried for months to figure out a charm series to duplicate the map so we’d each have one.” He reached out, tapping each with a quiet, ‘Mischief Managed’ before folding them up. “I believe, Miss Granger, that you probably promised to return this to it’s current custodians. Unless I miss my guess, they will likely insist on bequeathing it to Harry soon, an opportunity I would suggest we not deny them.” He handed one of the copies to Lily, tucking another into his own robe before handing the last to Harry. “Until they do so, this should serve the two of you well enough,” he winked, “stay out of the broom closets though, remember, we each have a copy,” he teased.

The two turned quite pink, Harry groaning, “Daaaad,” in a plaintive tone as he tried to hide his face entirely. Lily couldn’t help but smile slightly though, at the speculative look Hermione cast briefly towards her son.

“Behave James, or you’ll get to find out what the couch in our new quarters is like before the bed,” she chided, “ignore him Hermione, Harry. He hasn’t gotten to play pranks in quite a long time, and I swear he spent half his time plotting ones he wanted to play but couldn’t. I think I might offer galleon prizes to anyone who can prank his classroom, and see if it helps him grow out of it…”

“You wouldn’t!” he declared, shock filling his voice, “besides, I’ll call in back up if I need to.”

“Any way, if we’re all calmed down a bit,” started Lily, “I thought you two might like to join us for lunch? We could invite Ronald and Neville perhaps as well?” She knew from memories of the previous timeline that Ron was the first friend Harry had ever had, even if he was not the best friend all the time. Similarly, Neville was the only one who had shown Hermione any kindness, thus far, and the Potters had their own reasons for wanting Neville present. A glance passed between James and Lily, before James cleared his throat.

“Harry, I know you don’t really know Neville yet, but if things had gone how they should have you would have known him. Frank was a couple of years ahead of me, but we got to know each other pretty well on the Auror Force and our families have been friendly for a very long time. He asked me to be Neville’s Godfather shortly before the both of you were born, and with us back, that’s one of our responsibilities.”

While Harry’s memories were fading still, drifting away as his letter had said they would, enough were still there to recall the complete loyalty Neville had had for his friends. Coupled with the urging of his letter, he could only smile, “That’s great Dad. I know he needs it,” he looked towards Hermione, “we’ll make sure he knows he has friends…won’t we Hermione?” There was an almost pleading question in his eyes, a hope that there was a ‘we’, that each of them had already found their friend again.

The girl could only smile, nodding her agreement, not trusting herself to not blurt out something incredibly sappy as she blinked back tears, before finally managing to quietly say, “I think I’d like that very much, Harry.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Lunch had been awkward at first, with both Neville and Ron surprised to be there and then a bit uncertain at how to address two of the more famous figures in the wizarding world. The shock to Neville’s system learning that he suddenly had a Godfather was one that Harry could certainly sympathize with, though he calmed down when James explained that Frank had wanted him raised by his grandmother if something were to happen, that James would just be there for support. Lily had immediately taken a different tact, pointing out that Ron was the first of the new generation of Weasley’s for them to meet since their return, and heavily hinting that he was thus far making a good impression for his family with his behavior. She put special emphasis on his having treated Harry like a regular boy instead of a celebrity on the train, glossing over the bit about the scar at the beginning. The idea that he was representing his family to the Potters seemed to strike a nerve in the youngest of the Weasley sons.

“Blimey, Mr. Potter, Professor McGonagall came and told us about Scabbers, but I don’t know. I guess it just hadn’t really sunk in yet. She just said he was an animagus in hiding…but. He’s the one who really killed all those people, and betrayed you to you-know-who?” Ron’s whole body shook with a shudder at the idea, “Poor Percy. I mean, I’d only had Scabbers a couple weeks, but he’s been in with Percy for years now,” he said with another, smaller shudder. “I take it back Neville, Trevor is a way better pet, sorry about that mate.”

That had actually got a small, shy laugh from Neville, who looked to James, “Everyone is saying that you’re going to be our new Defense Professor?” There was a hopefulness to his words, after how supportive James had been already.

“Well,” James said evasively, “it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment before the Headmaster could make an announcement about the matter if I knew who the new Defense Professor was going to be,” his tone dripped false apology, “after all as a member of Staff I’m sure there are rules about discussing such matters that I need to follow.”

“Oh wow, the twins were right!?” blurted Ron, shock evident, “they said old Quirrell was horrible as a muggle studies professor, and afraid of his own shadow to boot.”

Hermione, sitting beside Harry on the other side from Ron nodded, “I’ve been doing some reading ahead, the Muggle Studies coursebook is horrendously outdated. I am just thankful that the Defense Against the Dark Arts course won’t suffer the same way.

“Yeah,” grinned Harry, “but you know if me and my friends aren’t visibly trying the hardest in my Dad’s class, we’re gonna catch all sorts of grief from everyone. Not to mention that people might try to say he’s playing favorites,” he added, no longer grinning as he began to worry.

He missed the little triumphant look on Hermione’s face before she said, “Oh he’s right Professor!” in a tone of worry. “If we do well, they’ll say it’s favoritism, if we do badly they’ll say you’re a bad teacher.” She hmmmed to herself a moment before excitedly starting to bounce in her seat, “Oh! We should form a study club, and have Harry lead it. That way he can help anyone who needs it in Defense! And I’ll bet Professor Flitwick would be glad to co-sponsor it with you Professor Potter, since he’s a former duelist and charms are so important for Defense!”

“Um, Her..Hermione,” started Ron uncertainly, “I mean. We all just got here, how much do you think Harry could really tutor others on?”

“I know Ron,” she said in a triumphant tone, “he’ll just have to study harder than the other students. And we’ll do the same, so that we can help him out,” she looked at the other two boys for a long moment before saying in a slightly challenging tone, “we wouldn’t just abandon Harry and Professor Potter, when they need our help to keep people like Professor Snape or Malfoy from trying to make them out to be cheats or incompetent, would we?”

Neville gulped, but shook his head with a, “count me in,” that sounded more confident than he felt.

Ron on the other hand seemed unsure what to say for a second, before he looked at Lily and James and drew himself up as best an eleven year old can and turned to Harry, “A Weasley doesn’t walk away when his friends need help,” he said confidently.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Afternoon_ =-=-=-

After lunch, the four kids and two adults had spent a little while longer just talking and getting to know one another, before Harry and the others had gone out to explore the castle and grounds a bit, with firm instructions to stay away from the third floor corridor and the Forbidden Forest. “We’ll know if you four get up to no good,” Lily had reminded, Harry and Hermione immediately understanding that the two would be watching their maps.

Not that either of them had the faintest intention of going near either location.

They’d met the Twins in the Gryffindor common room and followed to an unused classroom nearby, shocking the twins when Harry had explained that his father, the new Professor, was in fact Prongs. The two had left with the map, but were whispering back and forth rapidly as they left the group, in serious discussion about something.

Afterwards, the four had simply wandered the castle, taking the opportunity to get to know one another.

At dinner that evening in the Great Hall, James had taken his place at the staff table, though Dumbledore had prudently rearranged the seating to put he and Snape at opposite ends of the table from one another. Lily had joined him at the table, as Dumbledore stood to make his announcements.

“As you have no doubt noticed, we are joined this evening by new faces, though I am quite certain you have no need of my introduction of them,” he smiled, glancing towards the Potters. “Lord Potter has kindly agreed to take over the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor until such time as a replacement can be found, and I know you will all join with me in welcoming Professor Potter back to Hogwarts,” he said as he started clapping. The hall followed suit, even many of the Slytherins. “Yes, yes, quite so,” said Dumbledore before continuing, “in addition, Lady Potter will be working with Professor Flitwick and taking some of his classes from time to time, as requirements for her Mastery in Charms. During times when she is taking classes, you will please kindly address her as Professor Potter, though I think to help avoid confusion it would be suitable to address her as Lady Potter outside of the Charms classroom.” Another short applause, and then the tables were full and the hall filled with the sound of chatter and eating.

Harry had returned, briefly, to his parents quarters to spend a bit more time with them before heading back to the Gryffindor common room. It had been a very, very long day and the first years had soon turned in.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Potter Residence, Curfew_ =-=-=-

Folding the marauders map up once the kids had all found their way to their dormitories, Lily had looked up to James. “We’ll have to keep an eye on Hermione,” she’d said in an amused tone, “I think somehow she’s even smarter this time than she was last time. Or perhaps not smarter, but certainly more devious. Her manipulation of Ron was shocking, making studying to help Harry and you more a matter of honor than academics…” She stopped to consider, “most purebloods are homeschooled primarily before Hogwarts, correct?”

“Oh please no, you won the argument by default love, Harry went to muggle school even if it wasn’t the one we’d have picked,” he said holding his hands up in defeat. It had been one of the more significant rows they’d had after marriage, an ongoing argument about whether Harry would be raised in a more muggle style, or more like James was raised as a pureblood, with regards to education.

Lily laughed warmly, shaking her head, “That’s not what I meant, silly man. Ron doesn’t necessarily have bad study habits yet, because he’s never really had formal education. With proper encouragement and influence, it might avoid a lot of the problems those three had in their friendship because of his poor effort in class and Hermione’s frustration with he and Harry. I’m not entirely sure, but I think Harry’s already planning to be the best student he can be, I heard him asking Hermione if she could help show him how to properly write an essay so he’d be able to do a better job on his own.” She grinned, “I thought Hermione was going to start crying again for a minute, but she settled on hugging.”

James smiled at the comment, “She didn’t hug Harry nearly so much, especially this early in their friendship, last time,” he pointed out.

“I think she’s trying to get him used to physical contact and connections. She knows how he was before, thanks to my dear ‘sister’ and that thing she married, pulling away from touches. I think she’s treating it sort of like jumping into cold water to get used to it faster. While he’s still both Harry’s she’s building up a bunch of memories of him being hugged and touched so that when the other Harry’s memories are faded into his subconscious, he’ll still be used to it from these few days.” She smiled, “it’s what I was doing too, but she can get away with it even more as his high strung friend.”

James just blinked, shaking his head after a moment in a bit of amazement. “So letters?” he asked, changing the subject, “I pulled Neville aside and asked him if his wand was Frank’s. I need to write to Augusta and inform her I’ll be taking him to purchase a wand matched to him this weekend, as his Godfather and Defense instructor both, and we’ll be stopping by so that such an important family heirloom can be kept some place safe. She’ll likely grumble, but I think she just wanted to give the boy something that was important to Frank to help him at school, not realizing it would hinder him instead.” A quiet sigh, “do you have any ideas for the two of them?” he asked hopefully, looking to his wife.

“Not yet,” she admitted sadly, “maybe after we get to see them, but I don’t know.” She quickly moved on, “Harry said we were welcome to borrow Hedwig to help, I thought she’d be best to send to hunt down Remus. But you’re going to have to put together a very convincing letter, if he’s far enough away or off the beaten path enough that word hasn’t reached him yet.”

A nod from James, “I’ll work on that too then. Can you see to the letters to Gringotts then? We need a curse breaking team to go over the cottage and manor both, and then I want them both warded with everything that isn’t outright illegal that the goblins can erect.”

“The cottage too? You know the Ministry declared it a monument site.”

“Yes, but they didn’t pay Harry for it, just grabbed it. So we’re going to grab it back, ward it up, and then spin some tales about the need to protect the secrets of how Harry banished the Dark Wanker back in ’81. We’ll use the cottage as a lightning rod to draw attention, I’m fairly sure neither of us ever want to live there again, and I’m certainly not taking Harry back there.” He couldn’t help the shudder that went through him thinking about the home he’d died in.

“Fair point,” admitted his wife quietly. Trailing off, she was quiet for a moment, “James, we have to do something for the Weasley’s. I know in this timeline it didn’t happen, but they were always so good to our son, even though it kept pulling more and more trouble their way to welcome him like that. I’m sure you and the boys will back the twin’s joke shop, but there has to be something we can do for them now that won’t seem like charity.”

James considered, “I’ve actually been thinking about that too, actually. The Weasley’s were in dire straits long before Arthur was born, thanks to his great grandfather’s gambling. The problem is that Arthur loves what he does, and Molly’s Prewett pride. Even scholarships for the kids would help, but they’d refuse them. It would take longer than we want to wait to get enough political capital to elevate the families standing via entitlement. What we really need is an excuse to hire Arthur away from the Ministry, doing something with muggle artefacts still, that is at the same time beneficial to us so that it’s clearly not a matter of charity.” He grinned deviously, looking at his wife on the couch beside him.

“Uh oh, sounds like someone has a plan. Alright, let’s hear it, it can’t be as bad as the time you all tried to prank the astronomy tower so that the stars would move around into new positions every time old Professor Spitzer looked away from the viewing windows.”

“Hey, the prank worked just fine, we just didn’t know Professor Spitzer had nightmares about the topic already. We weren’t actually trying to scare him, just have a laugh.” He shook his head, “anyway, I know this brilliant woman who’s working on her Charms Mastery and happens to be muggleborn, who may have told me one time that she had an idea for how to make muggle devices work in high magic areas,” he grinned. “And we happen to have gotten to see some very interesting developments in muggle technology in the near future that might really be big hits for Wizards. Televisions and movies would definitely catch on, and run the Wizarding Wireless near out of business I bet, not to mention putting a serious damper on the Daily Prophet. And what Hermione said earlier made me think of it again, how ignorant our society is of muggle advancements and how amazed they would be by some of the devices.” He grinned, “but for Potter Innovations to try and market such devices, we would definitely need an expert in Ministry laws regarding muggle artefacts to help keep us on the right side of the laws.”

Lily was somewhat stunned for a moment, not just at the plan, but at her husband dredging up an idea she had had over twenty years earlier from their point of view for it to hinge upon. Turning, she slipped her arms around him and hugged him close, “I love you, you know,” she said quietly before kissing him.

It was a few minutes before she pulled away with a breathless, “Letters to write, plans to make, world to save!” They were both a little flushed and breathless, “So that’s Augusta and Moony for you, Gringotts for me, Arthur will need to be an in person thing for the big part but maybe a letter asking he and Molly to dinner in Hogsmeade to discuss recent events, maybe mention that we feel we owe Ron a replacement pet and would appreciate their advice? I’ll write that one,” she assured with a pat to his knee. “Is it too early to start trying to get Amelia and Sirius back together?” she said with a wicked grin.

“Oh Merlin, I hadn’t even thought that far ahead with that. With him legitimately free, it’s a possibility. Best we get him out first, but we should write a letter to him together to explain things. Include the Daily Prophet from this morning and a picture of us with Harry in his Hogwarts robes. I’ll sprinkle marauder code all through it to help him believe it, and both of our handwriting will help. Keep it real light on details except for that we’re going to get him back to us as soon as possible, and Amelia is helping us get it done. We’ll have to do some repairs to keep him from lumping her and Albus in with those who are to blame for it.”

“Isn’t Albus to blame?” Lily said, voice hard, “he was…” but she was cut off by James.

“He was at Saint Mungo’s working with their best healers, focused on trying to reverse what was done to Frank and Alice, when Sirius was brought in and thrown into Azkaban without a trial. He didn’t even hear about it until three days later when he came back to the Ministry for the trials of the Lestrange’s and Crouch Jr. He accepted the news going around that Sirius had confessed in his trial, and just added it to the list of things he blamed himself for. Lily, you didn’t see him when I told him that Peter was the secret keeper because you were with Harry. The only time I’ve ever seen him look more broken was when he drank that awful potion so Harry wouldn’t.”

Lily was quiet for a moment, her eyes distant before she nodded, accepting her husband’s words. A moment later though she growls, “Crouch! We need to figure some way to tip Amelia off and eliminate him as soon as possible,” to which James nodded.

“Anything else we need to deal with on the more immediate front?” asked James, getting up to retrieve several sheets of parchment, two quills and an inkpot, moving them to their table. “I’ll get with the elves tomorrow about desks and more suitable furniture,” he mused as Lily came to the table to join him.

“I’ll need five,” he stopped though as a large, snowy white owl came drifting through the charmed window and landed on the back of one of the chairs neither he nor Lily were using, “My apologies Hedwig, I’ll need four owls,” he corrected with a grin. It was one of the things McGonagall had explained to him briefly in the ‘Hogwarts Professorship’ crash course she’d conducted while walking with him up to the hospital wing that morning, the castle’s enchantments addressing the stated needs of professors much the same way house points were added and removed by simply stating the desired change. Within a few minutes, four owls had flown down from the owlery and were perched around the table on the remaining chairs, none of them seeming to dare trying to claim space on Hedwig’s perch. She seemed rather to accept this as their appropriate deference to her.

“Do you remember Moony, girl?” he asked, tying the rolled parchment to her talon. She looked at him for a long moment, before hooting in a somewhat indignant manner and taking off, flying out into the darkening night. “Do you think she remembers? She’s always been a bit unlike other owls,” he asked Lily.

“She’s bonded to Harry, did you expect her to be in any way at all ‘normal’ James?” asked his wife with a fond grin, shaking her head. “Come on, love, we’ve done all we can for tonight, and Harry is safely in his dorm,” she said as she stood and started to walk towards the bedroom of the quarters that were to be their home for the near future. She stopped just outside the door though, looking back with a sultry smile, “Oh and James, make sure you lock and silence the door before you come to bed, you know I heard once that some rascal snuck into the head of house quarters once and transfigured all of the furniture into dogs and I don’t think we want visitors this evening.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first full day of consciousness at Hogwarts is done! I know it might seem like it, but this isn't a James/Lily story, I promise, and the focus will shift more towards Harry as the term gets underway.
> 
> @DragonWolf1317 - I hope that answers your question. Hermione came up with her own plan, because that's what Hermione does. She decided to seal her memories, but I just can't see a Hermione that doesn't leave herself some access to that knowledge in case of emergencies. I hope people will like where it goes. Hermione and Harry are both exceptional, but in very different ways, and my goal is to not detract from either of them but to let them both shine for the way they are special.
> 
> Time will start advancing in more skips once they start settling into the term, but we've got a trip to Diagon Alley at the very least before classes start on Monday!


	4. Old Dogs and New Tricks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling.
> 
> Fair warning, I haven't edited this as I usually would yet, but I wanted to get it up tonight. I'll clean it up tomorrow most likely.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Potion’s Masters Quarters, Wednesday, September 4 th _ =-=-=-

At no point in his life, had anyone ever particularly describe Severus Snape as a happy man. Today, certainly, of all of the days before would be one of the least likely that anyone would use such description for him. He sat in silence in the arm chair in his private quarters, staring into the fire in silence. Picking up his wand from beside him on the small table he cast a quick tempus charm, grimacing at the time.

The staff meeting was in eight minutes.

He would be there.

She would be there.

He lifted his glass to his lips, tilting it back only to find it empty and glare at the glass accusingly, before reaching over and picking up the bottle of Campbell’s Finest Old Whisky and pouring the glass back mostly full. He raised it to his lips and considered a moment, before raising his wand and casting tempus again. Seven minutes. For a moment he considered casting a patronus to tell the Headmaster he wouldn’t be attending, but immediately dismissed it, not wanting any of them to see his Patronus. Not now. Not with them here.

His frown deepened after taking a long pull from the glass, “Beaker,” he said quietly, and an ancient old house elf in Hogwarts livery appeared at the side of his chair. “Please inform the Headmaster that I am indisposed, and will not be present at the staff meeting this morning.” With a deep bow, the house elf popped away on the task. Horace Slughorn had named the elf many years ago, and the old elf seemed especially fond of the potions labs even after Snape took over the position.

He raised his glass to take another drink, frowning when it was once more empty before reaching for the bottle, only to find it too had run dry. A look of dark frustration on his face, he stood and headed to his private stores to see what else he had on hand, or he might have to send Beaker down to Hogsmeade for a fresh supply.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Potion’s Masters Quarters, Wednesday, September 4 th _ =-=-=-

James and Lily stepped into the staff meeting room, looking around and relaxing just a bit at the look over of those present. Or rather, the lack of a certain hook nosed old acquaintance. At the excited motioning of Flitwick, the two settled in between the old Charms professor and McGonagall. The two older professors welcomed their former students cheerfully, but conversation ended quickly a moment later as Dumbledore entered the room.

“Ahhh, I see we are nearly all here,” he said with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes, “I fear that Severus is indisposed this morning, and will not be joining us. He assures me that should it persist, he will of course seek your capable aid, Poppy.” He even made the explanation sound genuine, though no one around the staff table with the possible exception of Hagrid believed it for one moment, everyone able to guess just why Snape had not attended.

Pointedly ignoring the elephant in the room, the Headmaster swept into announcements and discussions of schedules, “Seeing as Professor Potter has had so little time to prepare lessons, and he informs me that the notes left by his predecessor are, shall we say, underwhelming… We have worked out an altered timetable that will allow a bit more flexibility for planning times. The overall effect on other classes is quite negligible, and in some cases I think you will find it most beneficial. After a suggestion from Lady Potter, the scheduling for potions and herbology classes were matched up so that the knowledge learned in one more readily translated to the other. In addition, we have done our best to eliminate split block classes, with only a couple of minor situations to accommodate elective options.” He nodded to Minerva, who passed out the revised master schedules around the table. “Please take a few moments and look over it, to see if you have any questions.”

Professor Sinistra immediately frowned, “It looks as though third years have a class immediately on the morning following Astronomy at midnight the night previous,” she pointed out.

“Ah, an excellent catch Aurora, we shall of course remedy that,” he said, examining his copy for a moment before looking to Minerva, the two briefly concurred and she tapped her master copy with her wand, causing the others to all update. A moment later, there were nods of agreement from around the table.

“Excellent, with scheduling settled at last, does anyone have concerns that they wish to have addressed?”

“Yes,” said Lily, “Headmaster, with the deepest of respect, I fear that you have made a most egregious blunder in forgetting the nature of kids, especially teenagers.” She started, “I’m informed that once we left the Great Hall the night of the sorting, after the feast, you announced something to the effect of ‘The corridor on the third floor is off limits to anyone who doesn’t wish to die horribly’, is that correct?”

“Ah, yes. There are concerns there that students should be well served to steer quite clear of,” replied Dumbledore.

“Leaving aside why there is anything in a school that school children should be afraid of and avoid or risk death, the way you told them to stay away is practically daring them to go explore there. I’ve already heard conversation about what might be in the corridor and plotting to go take a look from no less than three groups of students. And, having known quite a few of the biggest trouble makers ever to walk these halls,” she smirked slightly and glanced towards James who put on a look of contrived innocence, “I can assure you that the ones that are the most serious about it are being the quietest about it!”

Dumbledore actually looked surprised, glancing towards James as though to ask a question only for James to nod, “Sirius, Remus and I would have picked the lock and been in there before going to our dorms first night,” he assured, “well, maybe not Remus. He was always smarter than Sirius and I.” He very much made no mention of the fourth of their group, a fact no one at the table brought up.

“Perhaps you are correct,” he said, glancing to Minerva who just had a look of ‘I told you so’ on her face. With a sigh he nodded, “Minerva, please have the house elves monitor the doorway into the corridor and alert you or myself should any student attempt entry. That should keep the matter controlled for the moment, and in the meantime I shall investigate alternatives to resolve the situation on a more lasting basis.”

In truth, he strongly suspected that Voldemort had already breached Hogwarts defenses once, effectively proving that the ‘safer storage location’ was not in fact truly safer. However, with the death of Quirrell and presumed flight of Voldemort, it might be safe to store the object at another location, where new wards could be more effective. If nothing else, it purchased them time that had not been available when devising a plan when they heard rumors an attempt would be made on the object in it’s vault at Gringotts.

“Thank you for bringing it to our attention Lily,” he smiled, “it might well be that as you are neither a true professor nor member of staff, the students will find you a more comfortable adult to confide in, you and your husbands apparent ages adding to that ease of familiarity.” Several other professors gave slight nods, especially those who had known the pair as students and newlyweds, acknowledging the fact that James and Lily looked to be barely in their twenties as they had been when they died. “Please, do not hesitate to bring any concerns that you have about such matters to myself or Minerva. We shall of course respect the students privacy, where appropriate.

Lily smiled, nodding, “Of course Headmaster,” she agreed.

“Are there other concerns?” the Headmaster asked, looking around. When none presented themselves, he nodded. “Very well then, please enjoy these few extra days of planning and I look forward to hearing wonderful tales of the start of classes on Monday. Also, my deepest thanks to you all for your presence this week, and aid in maintaining the students while they have been granted leisure time. I have been most pleased at the behavior they have shown, and know that I have you all to thank for it. As a special reward to the students for their behavior, we shall have a Hogsmeade weekend this Saturday and the first and second years, and those not authorized to Hogsmeade, shall enjoy the grounds. Lily, James, Minerva, if you would remain a few moments please…”

The rest of the staff got up to wander out, though Flitwick lingered with a backwards glance, seeming to want to remain before he slipped out. When it was just the four of them, Dumbledore sighed quietly.

“James, Lily… First, I want to again apologize to you. I travelled to Privet Drive yesterday and used certain spells to ascertain what I should have already known. I failed you and I failed your son, and I offer no excuse other than to pray you may some day find a way to forgive me. I would apologize to Harry as well, but in truth, I don’t believe I could manage the words yet.” Indeed, his voice was choked with emotion and tears of sorrow welled heavy in his eyes. “I want you to know that Minerva begged me not to leave young Harry there, but I overrode her. A fact I shall regret to my dying day,” he looked to his deputy, “I shall try to be less of an old fool, and listen to your wise counsel more faithfully in the future.”

Neither James nor Lily said anything, not yet. Neither was near ready to forgive Albus for what Harry had suffered. After a time of silence, Lily said quietly, “We do not hate you Albus, and neither does Harry. I think in fact that he is rather fond of Hogwarts and every one and everything about this place, yourself included. This was the place that rescued him from Privet Drive, and where we were returned to him. Know however that we **will** be watching. Harry is our priority. Now and always. If we feel that you or Hogwarts have become a threat to him, make no mistake that we will take him elsewhere, and offer to cover the tuition of any friends of his that wish to join him.”

He simply nodded, “to once more apologize is not the primary reason I asked you to stay behind… I am concerned about Severus. It is clear he is doing all that he can to avoid having to be in the same room or corridor as either of you,” he looked between them, “and I cannot help but worry that when eventually you cannot all avoid each other, there will be unpleasantness.” He glanced at James, knowing well the history between the two men.

James and Lily turned to one another, having an entirely silent conversation in their facial expressions and slight nods of the head. Finally, James turned back to Dumbledore. “We know exactly who and what Severus Snape is, Headmaster. We know what he did. We know what he did to try and undo it. We know how he knew.” While James was talking, Lily had slid her wand out of her sleeve under the table, preparing to defend the both of them if need be.

Dumbledore’s eyes grew wide and his face evidenced shock for a moment, before he frowned. “A burden I would not have wished to shoulder you with,” he sighed, only to be cut off.

“It is not your decision to make, who knows and doesn’t know the truth of things Albus. Especially when it comes to our family and our son.” James frowned, taking a deep breath to calm his anger while Lily continued.

“Severus has wronged us dreadfully, in ways even you do not understand, and we will have an accounting of that debt. You believe in giving the chance of redemption, but redemption is something that is claimed through confession and penance. Not through the charity of the Headmaster of Hogwarts. But no, we do not seek a confrontation with Severus, especially not here at Hogwarts. We will not tolerate bullying or abusiveness towards our son or son’s friends from him though, either you will be certain that such matters are addressed and resolved before they occur or you may be certain the students of Hogwarts will have plenty to talk about when we address the matter.”

“Tell Severus to stick to his dungeons and I’ll stick to the Defense corridor, we’re far enough away from each other it shouldn’t be a problem and we have already proven we can ignore one another quite effectively at the staff table for meals,” James agreed. “That should get us through the present matter at the least.”

Albus was silent for several long moments, but finally nodded. “I shall speak to Severus and be certain that he understands how things stand,” he agreed. “I trust you will be certain that young Harry does not exacerbate the situation intentionally? He does not seem the type from my observations, but I would prefer to be able to inform Severus that you will be monitoring your son’s behavior to see that he does not abuse matters.”

Lily gave a slight nod, “You may tell Professor Snape that I will make certain Harry behaves.” She knew that the reassurance would mean far more from her mouth than anything James could say, so far as Severus Snape was concerned.

“Very well then, thank you for staying,” but Dumbledore was cut off.

“Actually Professor, I have two small matters. First, we will need to leave campus on Saturday for a short time to take Harry and Neville to Diagon Alley. There are things that Harry didn’t know he needed or ought to have, when he was escorted by Hagrid, though Hagrid certainly did his best. Plus frankly, we’ve never taken our son school shopping, and I’ll be damned if we’re not going to manage it before he goes to his first Hogwarts class since we have the chance to do so,” and his tone practically dared anyone to disagree with him about the matter. “Neville will be joining us since he’s my Godson, and Augusta gave him Frank’s wand rather than having him visit Ollivander for his own…”

“She what?!” demanded McGonagall in shock, shaking hear head, “of all the foolishness! And a first year to boot, is she trying to sabotage her grandson?” The outrage of the old educator bordered on the comical and James smiled slightly.

“Honestly I just think she wanted him to have something to make him feel closer to his Dad,” James said sadly, “we’re going to take him by St. Mungo’s as well for a quick visit, while we’re out.” He didn’t explain that it was an excuse to get Lily in range to sneak in some diagnostic charms of her own or try to geminio their patient charts.

“Your Floo is activated,” assured Dumbledore, “I trust you will return at a decent hour and that you have contacted Augusta to make the appropriate arrangements,” he added with a raised brow, getting a nod from the pair. “Then the second matter?”

“Ah. That one’s more personal,” James grinned, “I need to borrow the quidditch pitch Saturday evening to teach Harry to fly,” he said, not able to hide the excitement from his voice. He knew Harry was going to be an amazing Quidditch player, but he would technically be teaching his son to fly, something he’d dreamed of since Lily first told him she was pregnant. Lily laughed quietly, shaking her head and smiling at her husband while Dumbledore and McGonagall both had expressions of mingled sorrow and happiness on their face, easily able to tell how much this meant to James but reminded of how much the family had lost in the same moment.

“I believe that the weather will be quite lovely for flying on Saturday evening,” Dumbledore said quietly, “and I will inform Madame Hooch that the pitch is booked.”

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Thursday, September 5 th _ =-=-=-

When Harry, Hermione, Ron and Neville started down for breakfast on Thursday morning, James and Lily intercepted them just down the hallway from the portrait of the Fat Lady, slipping out of a corridor behind a statue with the smooth practice of those who had plenty of practice navigating the secret passages of Hogwarts. “Ah, we were if you four were going to go down to breakfast today or not,” grinned James.

“Yes, well, some of us had a bit of trouble getting up this morning,” chided Hermione lightly with a glance towards Ron, who shrugged slightly.

“Oy, not my fault, that McLugging bloke saw me and Harry playing chess and was mouthing off about how neither of us knew what we were doing, couldn’t let him go acting like we were clueless now could I?” he said. “He was trying to get me to forfeit by dragging the game out,” he yawned largely, “but in the end he got mad and flipped the board over instead of admitting he couldn’t beat me and stormed off. Made a right scene,” he shook his head, “Percy said he’s an arrogant tosser, and I mean… Well. Coming from Percy of all people,” he shrugged.

Hermione sighed, but couldn’t help looking a bit amused even if she couldn’t quite put her finger on why it was funny. “Well, whatever. And it’s McLaggen, not McLugging, it’s considered very poor manners to get a persons name wrong.” Her tone though wasn’t quite as biting or sharp as it might have been a week ago, more a tentative, helpful tone.

“Ohh yeah, McLaggen. Thanks, Hermione,” Ron nodded. “Sooo, breakfast?”

Lily laughed, “come on you four, we’ll walk with you. Harry, we wanted to let you know we’re going to be out for part of the day. We need to meet with Director Bones and then go see about Sirius, and we may stop through Hogsmeade on the way back briefly. We didn’t want you to worry though if you went looking for us,” she said with a smile, reaching out to lightly touch his shoulder.

“Oh, okay Mum,” he said, smiling for a moment before he frowned, “are you going out to Azkaban?” Neville and Ron looked uneasy even at the mention of the place, Hermione uncertain.

“Yes, but there’s a small area that is warded, where prisoners are brought to meet with visitors when they rarely have them. We’ll be far away from the more unpleasant portions of the Prison,” James assured, though from his body language it was clear he still wasn’t looking forward to the visit. “On happier news, the Headmaster did not object to our plans to go to Diagon Alley on Saturday, we’ll plan to leave first thing after breakfast so that we can try and get our business done and be back in time for lunch. We’ll just escort you back up from breakfast.”

“Hermione, Ron, we’ll try and spring you two next time so you can come along too,” winked Lily reassuringly, “we just didn’t have time to contact your parents to make arrangements this time.”

“It’s okay Lady Potter, I’m not much on shopping,” said Ron with a touch of pink coloring his ears.

“I’m sure there will be many other opportunities,” Hermione smiled, “and I’m very glad that you can all go and get to spend some time together as family.”

“Well, if anyone needs us to snag anything they forgot to pick up, just let us know before Saturday,” said James as they reached the first floor, heading for the Great Hall doorways.

-=-=-= _Ministry of Magic, London, Thursday, September 5 th _ =-=-=-

The Potters had opted for a very light breakfast, and Lily had conjured two large, muggle style thermos’s that they’d had the kitchen fill with hot chocolate, before slipping a couple of bars in each of their pockets. After a moment of consideration, a third thermos and more chocolate was stuffed in their robes before they stepped through the Floo, emerging at the Ministry of Magic.

“It’s them!” called a voice, attention drawn almost immediately as someone was pointing in shock. “Mr. and Mrs. Potter, a few words please, just a few moments,” called a woman in a wheedling, oily voice. The pair glared at Rita Skeeter for a moment, before Lily placed a hand on Jame’s forearm, “let me,” she said quietly before they started walking with purpose towards the elevators. “You have till the elevator,” Lily said to the gossip queen of the British wizarding community.

“Of course, such a delight,” she simpered in a false tone, taking out a quill and pad quickly, the quill hovering over the pad. “What would you sa…” but she was immediately cut off as Lily glanced at the quill.

“Certified dicta quill only, it’s an old family policy I fear, that green thing is clearly not a registered dicta quill. Have you another quill perhaps?” she asked, the two never slowing their pace. Of course, the quill was quickly scribbling things on the pad as they walked.

“Ah, another quill,” Rita began, opening her handbag, “I’m sure, somewhere, but surely a few questions wouldn’t hu…” only to be again cut off by Lily.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry but no, you know how the old families are about their rules,” she apologized, reaching out and taking the top piece of parchment from the pad that was floating between her and Rita. Tearing it off and causing the quill to flutter to the floor, the couple stepped into the elevator. “Do have a nice day,” she said cheerfully to Skeeter before James pulled the gate closed and shut the reporter out.

“Ugh. Better you than me, I was just going to hex her,” James admitted.

“I know. In the middle of the Ministry of Magic. James, we’re going to visit Sirius and check on him, not spend a week with him enjoying the amenities,” she chided with a sigh of exasperation. Holding the parchment up she looked it over, noticing phrases like ‘a mother’s tearful joy to be reunited with her son tarnished by the dark magic he used to return her to life’ and frowned darkly. “Keep an eye out for bugs,” she said quietly to James, folding the parchment and slipping it into her robe. They stepped off of the elevator on the floor for the Auror corps, heading for Madame Bone’s office. Ushered inside they found they were far from the only ones present. The office was crowded by several Aurors as well as Minister Fudge and the obsequious toad herself, pink bow perched on the top of her head.

“Now Madame Bones, I’m sure you’re aware that Sirius Black is guilty, this nonsense has gone on long enough,” Umbridge was saying as they walked in, facing the desk so her back was to the door as they entered. The Aurors in the room glanced towards them at their arrival, with the exception of Moody, but then with his eye he was probably looking at them through the back of his head while still focused on the argument at the desk.

“And what would you know of Sirius Black or his guilt or innocence?” James demanded, striding fully into the room as Umbridge spun around.

“How dare you interrupt me,” she started even as she was turning around, “I’ll have your badge for…” only to trail off as she got a full sight of the two who had just arrived, shock evident on her face.

“Please, go ahead and threaten me. The reporters downstairs are practically trying to kill each other to be the first to get to interview Lily and I,” James sneered at her, “but no, go on. You were lecturing all of us about how a woman who clearly hasn’t risen from her desk in the last decade knows more about who is and is not guilty than the Aurors who actually investigate the crimes. Or maybe I’m mistaken, maybe it’s not the Aurors you feel yourself more qualified than on this topic, but Lily and I?” He looked back at his wife, “Lily, how utterly foolish of us. How could we possibly think to know more about who conspired to murder us than this creature, who clearly had a wonderful view of the events from the nearest lily pad.”

Moody’s snort was loud in the sudden silence as Umbridge sputtered, but Lily stepped in smoothly. “Minister, we’re so glad that _you_ are here to straighten this mess out. I’m glad that even with such foolish persons as this woman infesting the ministry, we have a dependable leader that we can rely on to do what is right.” She walked over to him, putting herself between Fudge and Umbridge, “My husband and I are here to give official testimony that Peter Pettigrew was our secret keeper, and that we personally witnessed his capture at Hogwarts on September the First, where he had managed to arrange that he would be in the dorm our son would have been in, defenseless against one of Voldemort’s most dangerous followers.”

James smiled inwardly as he saw the shocked look on Fudge’s face turn cunning, “Of course we’ve also personally seen the dark mark on Pettigrew’s arm. There are other matters that we will be giving testimony about, but while we are certain of your discretion,” he glanced meaningfully at Umbridge, “it’s probably not appropriate knowledge for understaffers.”

“Minister, surely,” Dolores began only for Fudge to cut her off.

“Dolores my dear, please return to your office. I will send for you to discuss these matters when I am done meeting with Lord Potter and Madame Bones,” he said briskly, before turning back to Lily. “Lady Potter, please, won’t you take one of the seats?” he motioned towards the chairs in front of Madame Bones’ desk, of which there were only two.

For a moment, Dolores stood there like she was going to continue to protest, until Moody flicked his hand in a shooing motion, glaring at her. She stomped out the door and the Auror nearest it closed it behind her. “Lord and Lady Potter,” Amelia began, “you know Alastor I believe, the tall one looking like he wants to hug you for running Umbridge off is Senior Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt, the young one trying not to be noticed is his trainee Tonks. Well, technically she’s his trainee, but I think Moody lost a bet or something since he’s the one who’s doing most of the training,” she remarked with a shrug. “I can assure you of their discretion on this matter,” she pulled out a dictaquill and pad, setting it in place before saying, “September 5th, Office of Director Amelia Bones, Testimony of James Potter and Lily Potter, witnesses are Cornelius Fudge, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks.” Tonks reddened considerably at her full name, but knowing it was on record kept her mouth shut, especially in a room full of such people as this one.

As the Potters began their tale, silence reigned, and Minister Fudge grew paler and paler with each passing bit of the testimony. Finally, when Madame Bones concluded the dictated testimony and set the quill down, he was looking rather green in the face as he wobbled. James pulled his wand quickly, flicking it as a chair grew up from the wooden floor, complete with fluffy padding just as Fudge started to sag down, sitting heavily on the seat instead of crumpling.

“Careful there,” said Moody, pulling a vial from inside his coat. He handed it to Fudge who drank it down without even asking, starting to look calmer immediately as the draught took effect.

“Ten years.. He’s been in there ten years, without a trial? When he didn’t do. Oh Merlin, they’ll hang me in the streets,” he stammered, turning his bowler hat round and round in his hand. James and Lily glanced between each other before Lily shrugged slightly in a ‘fine’ sort of fashion.

“Now Minister, you weren’t the Minister when any of this happened and I’m quite certain that Sirius will be far too thankful to finally get the justice he deserves to be blaming you for what happened.” Her eyes narrowed slightly and she added, “of course, if there are people in your office who are undermining your good work by trying to slander his name, or who have attempted to block him from all he really has ever wanted, his fair day in court to be proven innocent. Oh, but I’m certain that a man of your moral standing and respectability would not retain such people in his staff once they had shown themselves so poorly disposed to seeing the Lord of such an old and respected house being treated fairly.”

“Minister, I know that you had planned to travel to Azkaban with us,” said James, fairly certain that the man had no intention of going to Azkaban and quite sure of it when the Minister’s eyes widened in shock. “But if you have other matters that need your more immediate attention, I will be glad to give my old friend your warm regards and assurances that you personally are on the case and will see that he gets his fair day in court.”

“Ye..yes, yes, of course. Thank you, Lord Potter,” said Fudge, rising shakily from the transfigured chair. “I, ah, indeed I do have urgent disciplinary matters, that need to be attended to. I.. Yes, thank you very much, please, give Lord Black my regards and tell him I wish him a speedy recovery so that we may greet him properly once he has been acquitted of these heinous lies he has been accused of.” He managed to straighten a bit more, looking to Madame Bones, “Amelia, I want this matter to receive top priority, extra guards on all the key prisoners and no mistakes. Pull all the files and double check everything, if you need to pull in extra people just put the authorization on my desk and I’ll sign it.” He looked around and nodded, before heading out the door and to his office, a drink, and an unpleasant conversation with a woman who had become suddenly very politically inconvenient.

“Lord Potter, when all this is over, I do hope you’ll let me buy you and your lovely lady a drink,” drawled Shacklebolt, “and if he actually sacks the pink terror, I imagine there’ll be a considerable line behind me to buy more rounds for you both.”

“Enough,” said Bones, though she looked amused herself, “we’ve got an appointment at Azkaban and I want to check their new cell for Pettigrew before he’s transferred there.” She stood up and moved to her floo, tapping a sequence of runic symbols on the mantle with her wand before tossing the powder into the flame. “There’s no address to state, it’s a fixed connection,” she informed before ushering them through one at a time.

-=-=-= _Azkaban Prison, The North Sea, Thursday, September 5 th _ =-=-=-

The floo emerged into the Wardens office and he was waiting for them, two guards at the door and all with their wands out but not pointed towards the floo. Director Bones nodded politely before saying, “Blue November Phoenix Capricorn,” to the warden.

Hearing the passcode for the day the Warden smiled, “Good to see you Director Bones,” he said, putting his wand into the holster as the guards stood down and relaxed, “We’ve got Black up in interrogation three,” he said as he looked towards the others in the party. He looked on the verge of saying something, before he simply shut his mouth and headed for the door, opening it, “follow me.”

A couple of corridors and a stairway, and they found themselves outside a doorway. “Probably best if you let us talk to him first,” Bones said, “you just walking in might… Well, this place isn’t healthy.” There was worry and sadness in her tone, before she squared her shoulders and went inside. They could see her through the one way glass as she sat down across from Sirius, the other Aurors spreading to the corners of the room while the Warden remained at the door.

“Lily, he looks,” James started, breath catching in his throat. Her hand came up, rubbing his back between his shoulders.

“I know, but we’ll get him well James, we’ll make sure he gets the healing he needs and has the family he needs,” she promised quietly against her husbands ear. When Amelia turned slightly and motioned for them to come in, James had to take a deep breath before he pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“J..James?” stammered Sirius, his voice hoarse with long disuse and thick with emotion, “You’re dead,” he asked quietly. “You and Lily both, I saw you,” he said, tears pouring freely down his face as he stared in confusion. James stepped forward, Sirius was in shackles still but they had a fairly long chain between them, and James simply pulled his oldest friend up from the seat and gathered him into a hug, both weeping quite openly now as Sirius just kept repeating ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again into his friends shoulder.

“Can you give us a few minutes,” Lily asked quietly, motioning to the doorway as she looked towards Amelia and the aurors. They nodded, starting to move but the Warden stayed at the door, “I can’t leave you in here with wands,” he said, almost apologetically. Lily nodded, collecting the wand from James’ robe and handing it and her own to Amelia in the doorway before they were closed in with Sirius. She stood at the doorway, James glancing briefly towards her before he whispered, ‘muffliato’ quietly and cast one of the few spells he had managed to learn to cast wandlessly. Even then, it required him to fall back on saying the spell, but a glance at his wife and she nodded, indicating that the spell had taken effect.

“Sirius, don’t act different but listen to me,” he said against Sirius’ ear. “We caught Pettigrew, he’s going to trial, you’re getting your trial. Harry can’t wait to meet his Godfather, you’re getting out of here. But I need your help to protect Harry. Crouch Senior smuggled his son out of here, replaced him with his dying wife. You’re the only way we have to tip Amelia off to it, either you saw it or smelled the change. Something, if you have to out yourself as an animagus it’s no big deal, we can definitely get you off on time served and point out that there was a war on at the time so it wasn’t prudent to register. But we have to let them know Crouch Junior is free, he’s a Voldemort fanatic and he wants Harry dead. I’ll explain everything, I promise, but you’re the only one I can count on,” he hurried before releasing the spell.

Sirius had stiffened at the spell, but listened carefully, rationality and purpose coming back with each passing word. He’d managed to hold onto his sanity by shifting into his animagus form, but the misery and depression had still worn upon him. The letter had made him dare to hope, and hinted that there was far more going on in phrasing and ways no one would pick up on that wasn’t part of their little group. But now, here were James and Lily, really in the flesh. They looked just like the last time he’d seen them, and a logical part of his mind knew there was something wrong with that, but his heart drug that logical part of him into a back room and after a short scuffle, locked it in there where it would be nice and quiet.

He just plain didn’t care about how impossible it all was, if this was insane, he’d take insane and love every minute of it.

-=-=-= _Azkaban Prison, The North Sea, Thursday, September 5 th _ =-=-=-

Sitting around the table with the rest of the group back inside, the Aurors and Warden actually having even pulled up chairs, they were all sharing cups of hot cocoa from the three thermos’ that the Potters had brought and chocolate bars were on the table, far more than the few of them would eat. “Warden, considering Sirius is to get his trial and should be a free man soon, would it be permitted for us to send some care packages of chocolate to help bolster him? I can feel the dementors even this far away from the maximum security cells,” James shuddered.

The Warden seemed to consider, looking towards Director Bones who gave a slight nod, “That would be fine I believe, of course they’ll have to all be scanned, but that shouldn’t make them taste any less wonderful.”

“Thank you,” James nodded.

“I’m glad you came along when you did, Prongs,” said Sirius with a smile that didn’t quite manage to reach his sad eyes, “they have the absolute worst magazine selection here, I mean really Warden, the dementors are bad but the articles in Witch Weekly are truly torturous.” Shaking his head he sighs, “I was in the process of hatching a daring escape plan to go shopping for better subscriptions,” he mused, baiting the conversation. The Warden didn’t disappoint.

“Hah, that would have been a foolish thing to even try, Mister Black. I’m sure you are aware that in the history of Azkaban no prisoner has escaped from holding and survived to reach safety.” After all, one or two had, historically, managed to get into the water and drown there instead of dying on the island.

Sirius grinned inwardly while he scoffed, “Oh please, I’m far cleverer than Barty Crouch, both Junior and Senior,” he replied. Leaving it at just that he waited, letting the silence stretch.

“What about the Crouch’s,” asked Amelia, looking confused, Sirius blinked and looked at her.

“Wait, you didn’t know?” he looked to the Warden, “how did you not know?”

“What are you on about man?” demanded the warden in a huff now, growing agitated.

“Crouch. He came in here with someone to visit his son years ago, but his son left with him and the other person stayed. I think they died a few days later because the Dementors got all excited and then I know they drug someone down to the cemetery.”

“That’s impossible, Barty Crouch is a high ranking Ministry officer,” stammered the Warden, but Bones was looking speculatively between he and Sirius.

“I’ll tell you what, Warden, dig up old Barty boys grave and check the corpse. If it’s Barty Junior, you and your guards can have all the chocolate the Potters are planning to send me, and believe me, James and Lily buy the really good stuff!”

“I’m not digging up a ministry official’s son on,” but the Warden was cut off this time by Madame Bones.

“On my authority, and yes you are. Alastor, go with them, you know what to look for.” The Warden looked briefly mutinous, but since Madame Bones was his superior, he finally stood up stiffly and stomped out of the room, calling for two guards as Moody thumped along behind.

“Never a dull moment with you lot, is there?” drawled Kingsley in dry humor.

-=-=-= _The Three Broomsticks, Hogsmeade, Late Afternoon_ =-=-=-

By the time Lily and James emerged from the floo into the Three Broomsticks, they were pushing dangerously close to being late for their meeting with Arthur and Molly. Everyone present had been sworn to secrecy, and Sirius had demonstrated his animagus form in private for Amelia and Moody. Moody looked suspiciously at James and raised a grizzled eyebrow, but James just winked. Thankfully they’d been able to floo from the Auror offices to the Broomsticks, rather than go back through the Atrium. After a quick word with Rosmerta, who was thrilled to see them, they headed up to one of the private dining rooms.

“Arthur, Molly, so sorry we’re running late, it’s been a hectic day,” James apologized as he entered, moving to immediately grasp Arthur’s hand. They were somewhat surprised to find Bill present, but James shook his hand as well. While they hadn’t been particularly close before, the both of them felt a tremendous affection and debt for the Weasley’s. “Please, make yourselves comfortable, Rosie will be up in a moment to take orders,” he assured.

“It’s no trouble at all,” Arthur assured, “this is our oldest, Bill. He’s not often in town since he works down in Egypt for Gringotts, but he was up visiting and is my heir. I hope you don’t mind his attending?”

“No no, the more the merrier, please,” said James with a grin as he motioned for everyone to sit.

As they all settled at the table, Lily smiled to Molly, “We’ve had an opportunity to talk to Ron and get to know him a little bit, since he and Harry are friends. I know you two must be very proud of him,” she said. “We feel awful about what happened, and even worse that through no fault of your family or his, he ended up deprived of a pet. We were hoping you’d let us replace it since we are rather at fault for the loss of the previous pet, and perhaps suggest what he’d prefer?” She smiled, “I gather he’s not fond of toads, but perhaps an owl?”

“Oh, we’re proud of all of our children,” Molly smiled, “and you don’t have to do that. Not after all the trouble that…not after what…” She couldn’t manage to finish, just shaking her head with a little shudder.

Lily reached out, placing a hand on the older woman’s own. “I understand, and we really feel we do have to. James’ family is old and stodgy, we have to make nods to tradition from time to time and the family honor would be offended if we didn’t. Plus, after meeting Ron, it’s truly our pleasure. We hope he and Harry and their other friends will keep in touch over holidays, and right now there’s only one owl between the four of them,” she grinned. “Poor Hedwig will be flapping her little wings off if we don’t get some more owls into the mix.”

“Oh, well, I guess it would be okay then,” Molly agreed, not really sure how to deal with the young woman she was meeting. Outwardly, Lily looked just a year or two older than their own Bill, or perhaps even like classmates. But she behaved with a poise and confidence more appropriate to a woman far older.

As Rosmerta arrived to take orders, conversation lulled until the dinner was served, “I have to confess,” James said, “we did get you here under slightly misleading pretenses,” with a slight smile. “While the letter may have suggested this was about the recent events, we’re far more interested in what comes next.”

Arthur seemed to stiffen a bit, “I see,” he said quietly, “and what can we do for you, Lord Potter?” he asked, a bit more formal and distant.

“James,” chided Lily, “he’s winding you up, Arthur. He’s as bad a prankster or worse than your sons are from the rumors I hear, I swear I’m terrified they’ll all join forces and reduce Hogwarts to rubble.” She looked at her husband, “behave or I’ll sic Moony on you.”

James grinned, “I was just trying to be grand and mysterious,” he defended himself, “she’s right though, sorry Arthur, it came out a bit more sinister and nefarious than I intended. Please don’t be under any impression we’re upset with you,” he assured, “quite the opposite. We want to hire you away from the ministry,” he said with a grin as he reached into his robe and pulled out a folded sheet of parchment. He placed it on the table between he and Arthur with a grin. “I know you’re an honorable man, so I’ll take your word that this won’t go beyond this room if you choose not to accept the offer,” he said as Arthur picked up the employment contract and skimmed it, eyes suddenly widening as he passed it to his wife to see.

“What, exactly…?” Arthur trailed off.

“I’m a troublemaker, but I had the good sense to marry well above myself, and my dear Lady Genius over there has some plans on how to mage muggle things work in magic heavy areas,” he waved his hand slightly, affecting more ignorance of muggle technology than he actually had, he’d picked up a fair bit of understanding since Lily and he got together even if he was far from being able to appear ‘native’. “It’s above my head, frankly, I’ve seen her make Flitwick look confused talking about charms.” This received appropriately impressed looks, especially from Bill, “We plan to launch Potter Innovations, specializing in bringing either functional muggle technology or muggle technology inspired enchantments, to the magical world. Magicals vastly underestimate muggles and their technical innovation, to our own detriment. We’ll not only be bringing the magical world towards parity with muggle innovations and educating them, we also expect there to be a tremendous market for certain muggle items or their magical equivalents.” He smiled, “however, I’m sure now you can see why we desperately need your help. We need an expert in ministry law regarding muggle devices. We’re certain that certain…” he paused to look for a word, “let’s go with old,” he finally settled on, “families will object strenuously to our muggle inspired products. They’ll attack us with the misuse of muggle artefacts laws,” he grinned, “and we want the absolute expert on those laws to make sure we’re entirely within the legal guidelines.”

Arthur had been listening to the proposed business, and growing more excited as James talked. He loved his job, even if he knew other people looked down on him for it. He wouldn’t be directly helping people any more, which he would certainly miss, but the offers would be tremendously good for his family and he’d be working to actively develop things that mixed magic and muggle technology. He looked to his wife, sharing a look for a few moments, “Ah, when would you need to know by?” he asked James, turning back to the other man.

James considered for a moment, “well, we could wait a few weeks before we had to go trying to find a less suitable candidate,” he said, “I’d much rather the best though, so I do hope you’ll seriously consider the offer.” He smiled, “we do happen to be going in to Gringotts to sign some of the paperwork for the business on Saturday morning, and we could see to setting up drafts for your pay while we were there if we knew by then though.”

They talked a while longer, before James and Lily departed to head back up to Hogwarts. They had almost reached the gate, when Bill Weasley caught up to them, having run the whole way from the looks of the young man. Catching his breath he grinned, unable to hide his happiness as he handed over the signed employment contract. “Dad said he’ll give notice in the morning, but he may need a few days in St. Mungo’s when old Perkin’s finds out Dad’s getting out of the office before he manages to retire.”

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Potter Quarters, Friday, September 6th_ =-=-=-

James and Lily were curled up on the couch, having spent time with Harry and Hermione after dinner. It had been a hard time for the parents, as both Harry and Hermione had seemed by the end of Friday to have lost hold of the specifics of their memories from the previous timeline. Now, back in their quarters, Lily was pressed close, leaning against James’ chest as tears slowly fell from her eyes. “Do you think there’s any of their old selves still in there?” she asked her husband quietly, brushing one of the tears away.

“I don’t know,” he sighed quietly, running fingers through her hair gently. “I think we’ll see little hints of them from time to time, and as they grow up, we’ll see more of the ones we knew. I think Hermione maybe a little more,” he admitted, “she relaxed more as she grew up, and she really helped her younger self to get there quicker.

“But Harry,” Lily said quietly, voice pained.

He didn’t say anything for a long few moments, “I do think he’s still in there, in a way. He’s Death’s Champion, Lily. Look at it this way, we’re never again the person we were when we were younger. Harry’s just a bit unique, in that his timeline loops, but from Harry’s point of view, the him who fought against Voldemort at Hogwarts, was back in his childhood. It’s like those things that shape us as kids, that we don’t really remember the details of, just the emotion and change it caused.” He leaned down, kissing her forehead.

She slapped his chest lightly, playfully scolding him, “I thought I was supposed to be the smart one,” she chided. “You might be right about the Death’s Champion thing though, I got the feeling she was playing a lot of things close to the vest…robe…toga. Whatever.”

“The real question,” said James quietly, “is what will happen with the other strands, when Harry starts destroying the other anchors.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of this point, both Harry and Hermione are 'normalized' into their younger selves. What they both basically remember is along the lines of that they lived through a horrible war with Voldemort, and came back when given the opportunity to try and do better. Young Hermione knows that she has friends she can trust and depend on, and to encourage them instead of lecture and berate them. Young Harry remembers that things went horribly and he and his parents came back to try again, with him having them this time. He also remembers everything from his letter to himself, just as Hermione remembers everything the other Hermione actually told her.
> 
> It occurs to me that you might wonder why they haven't immediately started destroying the Horcruxes. Three reasons -  
> 1) They don't want to risk tipping their hand early while there are two they can't legitimately get to (Cup and Journal)  
> 2) They want Harry to do it, as they're not sure how much of Voldemort needs to be killed 'by his hand' and Harry offed most of them in the last timeline, either directly or with direct involvement.  
> 3) I need crap for them to do later in the story! :)


	5. Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Harry Potter is still owned by J.K. Rowling.
> 
> Apologies again that I haven't edited this, too many late nights lately.
> 
> This chapter starts the shift to more focus on Harry's point of view, which will be more typical going forward.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor Boy’s First Year Dorm, Saturday_ =-=-=-

Harry awoke on the morning of the 7th to the feeling of a small hand shaking him, blinking his eyes and rubbing them before he reached for his glasses and pulled them on. A house elf wearing a toga like cloth with the Hogwarts crest on it stood at the bedside, “Harry Potter sir is needing to be awake. Professor Mister Potter be sending Boksy to come wake you. Professor Mister Potter be saying for you to get yer godbrother up too, Harry Potter sir.”

Harry looked at the strange little creature, a tickling of memory at the back of his mind before he shook it off, “Oh, right. Diagon Alley!” He tried to keep quiet as the little creature vanished back out of the boys dorm. Getting up, he quickly went to take care of his morning business before rousing Neville, “Nev, Dad wants us up and moving so we can get an early start,” he said to the other boy. Being a Saturday, the rest of the boys seemed to be inclined to sleep in, but Neville and Harry were soon cleaned and dressed, and heading out of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“I was starting to wonder if you two had forgotten you had plans today,” came the voice of Hermione even as the portrait closed, causing both boys to jump a bit as they hadn’t noticed her. She gave a wry smile and fell in with the two of them, Harry between she and Neville. “Oh I wish I were going with you today,” she sighed, “there are so many books I want to pick up now that the shopping rush for the school year is over.”

Neville laughed while Harry just smiled, “If there’s anything in particular, just write it down for me. Or let mum know, I am sure we can stop in Flourish and Blottes and pick it up if they have it.”

“Oh I know, but it’s just not the same as being in the bookstore myself. You never know what you’ll see that will catch your eye after all.” Of course, having said so, she pulled a folded parchment from her robe with a list, before pulling out her money purse.

Harry waved the purse off, “You can pay me back when we get back, that way I don’t have to keep up with the math in my head,” he assured, thankful that he still had a fair bit of the money he’d taken out to cover expenses when Hagrid took him to Gringotts a few weeks back.

“I can’t believe your Dad is taking me to buy a wand,” Neville said, still a little in awe over having a godfather in his life. He loved his parents very dearly, but the way James had stood up to his grandmother over the wand had been somewhat eye opening for Neville, who had never seen anyone stand up to the formidable old woman. “Are you sure you don’t mind, Harry?” he asked a bit timidly, “I mean it’s the first time you get to go out with them, I know you probably want them all to yourself.” His gaze shifted away from his friends with a mumbled, “I know I would,” as he thought of his own parents.

“Neville, of course it’s okay. We’re family, even if it’s a bit of a strange family,” grinned Harry, “besides, classes start on Monday and Dad and Mum both said you had to have a wand that wouldn’t be fighting with you about everything.”

By now the three were approaching the Great Hall and, slipping through the doors, saw that they were among the very first to breakfast that morning. At the head table, James and Lily were eating, James chipper and eating breakfast while Lily was sipping from a strong cup of tea, looking like she really was not pleased to be up so early. Indeed, the enchanted ceiling overhead was still only dimly lit with the morning sun not having reached high enough to make it’s way onto the ceiling, and on the western side of the hall the ceiling was still more the inky purple of night than the blue of morning.

Harry smiled up at the head table to his parents and gave a small wave, before he settled down on the bench between Hermione and Neville. “So, what are you going to do today while we’re gone, Hermione?” asked Harry as he started picking out items onto his plate.

“Actually I’m going back to bed after I see you all off,” she admitted, “it’s been a bit of a crazy week and I haven’t slept well several nights, so I think I’ll have a bit of a lie in and then go to the Library. I’m working on a catalogue of all of the books that are horribly wrong, horribly out of date or just plain silly since what happened on Sunday.” She glanced meaningfully towards the head table and his parents, before adding a couple of pieces of fruit to her plate. “At the very least, new editions need to be released updating the information within, and quite a few of them make some assumptions about your parents and you that are either so clearly wrong as to be shameful, or border on the outright offensive.”

Harry laughed quietly, “well, don’t work too hard. Dad said he expected to be back around lunch time, we’ll come up to the Library and get you before lunch if we make it back on time,” Harry promised. He already knew that Ron had asked the Twins to show him a few of the secret passages that would help avoid being late for classes, and to avoid areas Snape and Filch customarily lurked to have something to do this morning while Harry and Neville were out of the castle.

They made small talk while finishing up light breakfasts, until Harry’s parents approached, his mother still sporting a cup of steaming tea obviously just refreshed. “About ready to head off?” asked James.

“Yeah, Hermione wanted to see us off,” Harry said, as the trio hopped up. “Umm, can we stop by Flourish and Blotts while we’re there? I have a list for Hermione,” he asked his parents.

James looked amused, “Of course, gotta take care of the hon…” he started before Lily smacked him lightly on his shoulder.

“We’d be delighted,” she assured, “though if I can see the list, some of the books may be in the vault,” she said as she held out her hand. Harry handed the list over, looking confused as she started to skim through it.

“I didn’t see any books in the vault,” he asked in confusion, before suddenly thinking of something. “Oh!” he dug in his robe pocket and pulled out the small gold key, holding it out to his father, “Hagrid gave me this when we went to Diagon, but you’ll need it.”

James smiled and pushed the key back towards Harry, “You hold onto that one Harry, it’s your vault. We set it aside and put money enough in it when you were born to keep you taken care of till you were a legal adult, as long as you didn’t go absolutely mad with spending. The goblins would have stopped you from withdrawing any huge amounts of money without proper counseling first, of course. It’s your trust vault,” he grinned, “you didn’t think that we’d really left the entire Potter family fortune in a vault that Hagrid handed the key to over to you on your eleventh birthday, did you?” His tone was teasing but playful.

“I had sort of wondered about that when you told me, Harry,” Hermione admitted, “it seemed very odd that a family as old as the Potters and a group as security conscious as Gringotts is, wouldn’t have better security measures on access to the families financial legacy than…well… Hagrid’s coat.” She couldn’t help but giggle at the last part, shaking her head slightly.

“Several of these are definitely in the vault, though a few were at the cottage when…” she trailed off, and everyone knew what she meant without her saying. “I am told that the personal effects were all sent straight to the vault by the Potter elves after that night.”

“Potter elves?” asked Harry.

Neville smiled, “most of the old families have an elf or two, some of the oldest have several. I had an elf nanny growing up, since Gran was…” he considered for a moment before finishing, “well, busy bein’ Gran. Plippy was great, but she really loved taking care of little babies, so when I was six or so Gran helped place her with another family that had a newborn and needed the help.”

“In our case, we had three. But since we knew there was potential for things to go bad, we’d made some arrangements with Gringotts. House elves are a bit of an unusual species, and are extremely particular about things being done in just certain ways. They have all sorts of rituals and customs that are part of not just their culture but nearly a biological imperative,” explained Lily, sounding a little frustrated as she explained it. “A few centuries before Merlin, they were nearly extinct as a result of a series of bloody civil wars and clan wars.” She glanced towards Hermione, who the explanation was mostly for, pleased to see the girl was listening quite intently. “The heads of three of the remaining families came together and realized that if they didn’t do something, their race would cease to exist. Personally I think they went a bit overboard, but I’m over a thousand years late to argue with them over it. House elves have to be bound in service to another magical, almost always humans, to survive. If they aren’t, their magic withers and they die,” she sighed sadly, “unpleasantly.”

James nodded grimly, “If Lily and I were both…unavailable, then the Potter elves were instructed to forget certain details that could have endangered Harry if he had survived, and present a letter to the goblins. The goblins would see to it that they were placed with families that would treat them in a manner we would find acceptable, preferably abroad and away from the troubles in England.”

“But why couldn’t Harry,” began Hermione curiously before Lily smiled sadly.

“If Harry were old enough at the time of the occurrence, then they would have passed to him by virtue of his claim on the inheritance. But since he was only a baby, it wouldn’t have been safe for them to bond with him, nor could he consciously agree to the bond. It’s a symbiotic sort of thing, in exchange for the servitude, the elves receive a bit of the Witch or Wizard’s power. It’s only a tiny amount, meaningful to stop the curse rather than provide them with power as they are in fact quite magically strong. However, until a magical’s core is more mature, such bonds are potentially quite dangerous.”

“Well, here we are,” said James as he opened the door to their quarters and led them all inside. Closing it behind, he turned to the kids. “Now then, before we go,” said James as he pulled two pendants from an inside pocket of his robe. “Neville, Harry, wear these under your robes. They are emergency portkeys that will bring you directly back to Hogwarts and to the Headmaster’s office. They are activated by the phrase ‘Hogwarts Haven’ once you are wearing them.” He looked seriously at the boys, “they will be activated by anyone saying that phrase, meaning that if Lily or I say it, you will both be pulled back here. However, should something happen and we be unable, I expect both of you to activate the portkeys and get back here immediately. You will be able to notify the Headmaster and send help to us at once that way.” He knew both boys personality too well to think they’d willingly abandon them, but hoped a mission to bring help might get them out of there. He didn’t bother with details like that if either portkey activated, it would automatically activate the other, in case one of them tried to be heroic. He had a pretty good idea which one that would be after all.

Lily held up a hand to forestall questions, “we’re not expecting any sort of trouble, but neither are we taking any risks. That’s why,” she flourished her wand and smiled, as both Neville and Harry’s features changed as the glamour took effect, “we are also not going to advertise who we are.” She cast a second set of glamour charms on James and herself, and for a moment everyone looked quite different.

Hermione wrinkled her nose at Harry, “definitely stick with your natural hair color,” she advised seriously, before suddenly hugging him. “Oh do be careful, all of you,” she said in a voice suddenly a bit thick, before pulling back. “I’ll see you all when you get back to Hogwarts,” she said, trying to sound prim and composed before she hurried from the room.

Harry watched her go, looking as confused as he felt, to which Neville actually looked amused. Lily waved her wand in a complex series of motions before suddenly they all looked like themselves again, but with a strange overlay of someone else over top.

“Come on then, Harry, we’re going to travel by Floo. Lily and Neville will go first, but the most important thing is to remember that the flames can’t hurt you if they’re green, so don’t be afraid of them,” instructed James. Lily stepped forward and took a pinch of powder from a small bowl on the mantle, throwing it into the fire which immediately turned green. “Just a pinch,” James explained before Lily confidently stepped into the fire and called out ‘Leaky Cauldron’ in a clear voice. Neville moved after her, having been floo traveling for years now, also calling out ‘Leaky Cauldron’. James smiled at his son, “I’m sure you guessed, but you call out the name of where you’re going, and we’re going to the Leaky Cauldron.”

Harry nodded, giving a slight shrug as he looked to the fire and then walked over. Taking a bit of the powder, he threw it into the fire which turned green. A quick breath and he stepped in, a touch unsettled at the flames around him before he called out ‘Leaky Cauldron’, managing not to choke on the ash. Then, everything started spinning as it felt like he was the carrier in a pneumatic tube, shooting through a series of twists and turns as he saw grates and fireplaces pass by around him. A moment of panic began to clutch at his heart, before he was unceremoniously ejected from the fire of the Leaky Cauldron, sliding across the floor and coughing ash and soot.

Lily laughed quietly, helping him up and waving her wand to get rid of the smudges and dusting of ash, “Don’t worry, I hate it too,” she promised, “but you do get the hang of landing with time.” As if on cue, James popped out of the fireplace with a casually confident step, looking around. “All here? Well done then, and off we go!”

-=-=-= _Diagon Alley_ =-=-=-

As the group made their way into the Alley, Harry couldn’t help but once again be amazed as he looked around in wonder at all the shops and displays. It was less crowded than it had been last time he had been here with Hagrid, with it being a Saturday morning and school being in session. “I love magic,” Harry breathed quietly, surprised that he was overheard when Lily slipped an arm around his shoulders and squeezed him lightly. He blushed slightly, but didn’t do anything to dislodge her.

“Where to first?” James asked, glancing back at his wife, knowing better than to delude himself that he was in charge of any shopping trip.

“I thought we’d start with getting Neville his wand, then he and I could stop and get a nice plaque for his parents wands to be honored on while not being used, and I’ll side-along him up to see Augusta and drop Frank’s wand off. While we’re taking care of his family business, you and Harry can take care of the paperwork and matters at Gringotts, and if you finish up quickly, whatever it is that you’re plotting.” She gave her husband an all too knowing smirk at that, “we’ll catch up with you at Gringott’s and I can pick up a few things from the vault, I’m sure Neville won’t mind being my escort,” she said with a smile.

“She means pack mule,” James stage whispered to the boys, who sniggered and grinned.

Lily stuck out her tongue before continuing, “After that we should stop by Eeylops and get a couple of owls and a perch for the quarters,” she glanced to Harry and Neville, “Neville, we don’t mind picking up an owl for you if you don’t think Trevor will get jealous, and Harry, if you want a perch for Hedwig in your dorm it’s allowed.” She considered, “other than that, there’s the Flourish and Blott’s run, and I need to stock up at the Apothecary. Then we should take Harry for formal and dress robes, and casual wear” she considered and glanced to Neville, “do you need to pick anything up?”

“Umm, no ma’am, not that I can think of,” he said quietly.

“Then I think that’s most everything for Diagon Alley,” she said, and Harry noticed just a bit of emphasis on the last two words, glancing between his parents and noticing a lingering look, wondering what else was planned for the day.

-=-=-= _Ollivanders_ =-=-=-

Harry remembered the slightly creepy experience that he’d had the first time he came into Ollivanders and hesitated just a bit at the door before following Neville and his parents in. The inside of the shop was as dim and library quiet as it had been the last time, as Ollivander came bustling out of the back with a cup of tea in hand. “Oh my, I must say this is an unexpected surprise,” he said to the group as he set the cup down. “Lord and Lady Potter, and young Mister Potter. I do believe we’ve already had our customary appointments, have we not?” he asked, before his gaze swept onto Neville. The glamours, it seemed, did nothing to fool the strange old wand maker as he looked the boy over. “And you, dear Mr. Longbottom, I expected to have seen over the summer. I believe you have come at the opportune moment though,” he said, coming around from behind the counter and holding his hand out, “may I see the wand you took with you to school?” he asked quietly.

Neville hesitated with a glance to James, who nodded, before handing over his father’s want. “Ahhh yes, I see.” He turned the wand over briefly in his hands, before returning it to the boy, “as I told your young friend here, Mr. Longbottom, the wand chooses the wizard. There are circumstances of course where this may change, but a wand may not have two masters. This wand is still very much your father’s wand, and while it sees your father in you, I believe very much you would have found compelling its service an exhausting and frustrating task. But worry not, I am certain we can find the wand that will choose you for who you are,” he assured as he pulled out his measuring tape. He started to measure Neville, hmming to himself as he considered the boy. “Yes..your father favored a dragon heartstring,” he mused, “but I believe it might be that the unicorn hair of your mother is a more appropriate fit in this case,” he mumbled to himself as he started taking down boxes. He pulled one out and handed it to Neville, “Poplar and Unicorn Hair, eleven inches, quite springy,” he said as he did so, “give it a wave..” Neville did, though nothing happened other than several boxes wiggling on the shelves. Immediately Ollivander pulled the wand back, replacing it.

“Hawthorn and unicorn hair, ten inches and quite rigid,” he said as he handed it to Neville, this time a vase that Harry was quite sure he’d broken when he had been here shattered. “No matter,” said Ollivander as he swapped wands again.

“Hmmm, other direction then. Chestnut and unicorn hair, twelve inches, moderately supple..” he said before Neville gave the wand a little wave. This time there was a woosh of air through the shop, blowing paper around, but Ollivander shook his head and pulled it away. “Getting closer though,” he said cheerily.

After a moment of consideration he pulled out another box, “Cherry and unicorn hair, twelve and a half inches and quite flexible, a wand strong enough to bend but firm enough to stand..” he said as he handed it to Neville. Harry was watching his friend, and smiled slightly at the look of wonder on the boys face, as he gave the wand a flick and a shower of green sparks flew from the tip of the wand, scattering over the floor and sprouting into little flowers where they landed.

“Never failed yet to find a match,” Ollivander said proudly, “I am confident that it will serve you well, Mr. Longbottom,” he said.

-=-=-= _Shady Shop, Knockturn Alley_ =-=-=-

After settling up with Ollivander, the group split up outside, Lily going with Neville towards a woodworkers shop and Harry following his father towards Gringott’s. Before they made it though, James looked back and then pulled Harry to one side, farther out of the view of traffic. “Okay now, this is the part we don’t tell Mum about,” he said with a wink, “keep your eyes open and try not to draw attention to yourself, we’re just going to duck into Knockturn and visit a little shop I know real fast, then right back out. But it’s a dangerous sort of place Harry, so I want you to watch our backs and not act like your friend Ron, and see how fast you can talk us into trouble. Can I count on you?”

“Yeah, Dad,” Harry said, trying to hide the excitement of getting to duck into Knockturn with James, having already heard a few tales of the place from classmates. Admittedly, mostly Ron bragging about the several times he’d been there, which Harry was confident he’d never actually been. He followed as James lead the way quickly into the shaded alleyway, making a fast left and then descending a set of steps and through a doorway. Inside was a shop not all that unlike the one they’d just left, and James approached the counter.

“Can I help you,” drawled an old, toothless man coming from the back of the shop, looking the pair over.

“Perhaps, if your merchandise is of a quality not to be a waste of my time or effort,” James responded in a tone that Harry would have never expected. “I’m looking for some imported products, especially Fabron or Lefebvre..”

The man looked James over considering, “I don’t know you, neighbor,” he said quietly, “and imports are expensive work. Not quite illegal, but troublesome and with a lot of questions if handled poorly..”

James smirked slightly, “I’m sure you’ll remember me if you think hard enough,” he said as he placed several coins on the counter, “after all, everyone is just a friend we haven’t had the chance to meet yet, isn’t that true?”

“Ohhhh,” said the shopkeeper, “now I see your face better, I do seem to recall you used to shop here from time to time,” he drawled, “but even so. What you’re askin’ won’t come cheaply. I’ll need half of the product cost and the full import fees, in advance, to make it worth my while.”

James frowned slightly, “Done, but only if you order them to specifications,” he withdrew a folded parchment from his robe and tapped it with his wand, updating one of the entries though Harry couldn’t quite see what it said. “I need these eight as soon as possible without drawing attention,” he said, “and I will pay in advance for two additional. I also need eight wand holsters now, and eight more upon delivery of the order, plus two with each of the additional orders.”

The shopkeeper lifted a brow, but even Harry could tell the old man was pleased, “Well. Well well well..” he mused, “I can do all that, it’ll run ye twenty two each for the wands, and another twenty total for the holsters.” James considered for a moment, then simply reached into his robe. His wand remained there for a second before he withdrew a small satchel, tossing it on the counter top. “When may I expect delivery?” he asked simply.

“Two weeks,” the merchant said, picking up the pouch and bouncing it in his palm before tucking it under the counter and pulling out a bag, into which he started putting what looked like thick leather bracelets. James reached out and tapped the bag with his wand, shrinking it and putting it into his robe pocket.

“I or my elf will return in two weeks,” he said before he turned and started heading for the door, ushering Harry ahead of him. “Thank you for your time, madame,” he said just before stepping through the door and letting it close behind him. Harry’s eyes widened in shock, but he hurried on ahead of his dad as James steered them back out of the alley.

-=-=-= _Gringotts Bank_ =-=-=-

It wasn’t until they were approaching Gringott’s that Harry looked back and asked, “What was all that?” in confusion, to which James winked. “I’ll explain when we’re in the vault,” he assured quietly as they headed into Gringott’s. James steered him away from the lines and instead over to a small window at one side. “I need to speak to my account manager,” he said, slipping his hand through the opening, his ring visible upon it suddenly. The Goblin behind the window briefly looked surprised before bowing it’s head slightly and hopping down, moving over to open a nearby doorway.

“This way,” the goblin said brusquely, before leading them down a series of hallways. Stopping at a door, the goblin knocked twice before opening it, ushering them inside.

Inside the office was nicely furnished, with comfortable looking leather seats around a small table, as well as a large wood desk with two chairs in front of it and another behind it. Sitting behind the desk was an older looking goblin, at least Harry guessed he was older since he was more wrinkled than the ones he’d seen so far. Behind him on the wall was a tapestry, depicting a coat of arms that Harry had come to understand was the Potter family crest, a shield depicting a griffon rearing up in front of a gate house.

“If you don’t mind,” the goblin said brusquely, waving his clawed hand towards the pair as Harry felt a strange wetness flow down, reaching up and realizing his hair was wet. He also realized that he and his father’s glamours were dispelled, worrying a bit before he realized that his dad didn’t seem concerned. As James walked in and sat down, Harry followed by, sitting in the other chair when his dad motioned him to.

“Really Goknar, was it necessary to douse us? I’m pants with glamours and Lily won’t be along for a while yet,” he complained, drawing a snort from the old goblin.

“Well I you had paid attention in charms instead of planning how to get in trouble, you might not be so bad at it,” he chided, before smiling, “it’s good to see you Lord Potter,” he said, sounding genuinely pleased, making it difficult for Harry to hide his surprise. The goblin then turned to him, “and young Mister Potter, I wish to apologize. We had no way to interfere with the arrangements made for you that would not have resulted in a near war with the Ministry, as they would have accused us of trying to kidnap you for some nefarious purpose. We had intended to discuss matters of your inheritance when you visited this summer, but there was no moment when we could do so in confidence, as you were closely guarded.” He smiled, a smile that showed an absolutely unsettling number of teeth Harry noted, “thankfully the matter has become moot, and indeed things are far more convenient with certain matters not having been progressed previously.” He looked back to James, “I have the paperwork you requested prepared,” he said as he passed a huge stack of parchments across to James.

“Excellent, I’ll also need certain things from the vault, Lily’s ring and Harry’s for starters. I also need you to see to this,” he said as he pulled a parchment from inside his robe and passed it to the goblin, who opened it to quickly look over the contract penned with Mister Weasley.

“Interesting…and quite generous,” was the goblins only remark before withdrawing a stamp from a drawer. He slapped it onto the parchment, which flashed a gold color briefly before leaving a golden imprint on the parchment which he set into a box on his desk. Almost as soon as his hand left it, the parchment vanished, “done.”

James was quickly flipping through the stack of parchments, and Harry could see as he did that certain parts of pages were glowing, a line here and there, a paragraph from time to time. James, noticing his son looking smiled slightly, motioning to him. “Your mother and I are launching a business venture, Potter Innovations, to work to bring mundane technological advancements to the British magical community. We’ve hired Arthur Weasley to help oversee development and make sure we don’t run afoul of any Ministry laws or rules, that was the parchment that you saw me give Goknar, the employment contract.” He then indicated the parchments he was looking at, “this small book here,” he said with some distaste, “is the business charter and contract, it’s a fairly standardized document that most businesses use and was designed by the Ministry and Gringott’s. The portions glowing are the places where changes were made, either my own, your mother’s or Goknar’s.” He looked very seriously at Harry, “Goknar is the Potter account manager, meaning he has an oath to look after the best interests of the Potter family, as well as his oath to Gringott’s. If any other goblin were to hand me a contract, I would never consider signing any part of it without a thorough examination by myself and your mother, and consulting a law wizard we trust.” He grinned when Harry looked shocked and glanced towards Goknar, “that’s not a matter of not trusting Goblins, it’s a matter of understanding that their loyalty and oath is to Gringott’s and the profit of Gringott’s, not to my well being.”

Harry frowned slightly as he considered it, looking towards Goknar, “we’re very fortunate to have Goknar’s oath, aren’t we Dad?” he asked, looking back at James. He didn’t see the pleased look that passed over the goblin’s face, but James nodded solemnly. “Very few houses have account managers who are sworn to them. At one point there were more, but many of the houses have alienated the goblin houses who once took such oaths. One of Goknar’s line has been sworn to the Potter family for over three hundred years, and it is my sincere hope that when our old friend decides to retire and enjoy all the money he’s fleeced out of our enemies, his heir will take up his place.” He glanced to the old Goblin who gave a slight nod.

Harry leaned against the back of James’s chair, watching him sign and reading small bits of the changes that were made to the contract. It was all legalese to him, but he was confident that Hermione would have understood it at least. Finally, James signed the last page with his full name, before sliding the paperwork over slightly and ushering Harry forward. “You sign on the last line there,” he said, making Harry’s eyes widen again. “As my heir, it will one day be your business. But beyond that, the both of us signing it helps avoid anyone trying to stir trouble over the unusual situation with the Lordship.”

Harry signed, setting the quill down before he asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, the matter that the goblins would have spoken to you about if they could pry you away from Hagrid when you came before, would have involved you becoming Lord Potter. You’d have not been able to exercise any real authority since you were still a minor, but you’d have had a bit more access and been legally entitled to bring grievances between yourself and your regent before the Wizengamot. It wouldn’t have mattered much, since they pretty much have never ruled in a minor’s favor short of attempted murder or usurpation, but it’s a technical power.” He shrugged slightly, “you were eligible on your eleventh birthday, but since you did not do so before I returned, I resumed Lordship. But there might be loopholes where someone could argue that you should be Lord instead of me, us both signing closes any such loopholes.”

Harry’s eyes had widened during the explanation, and he could only nod, sitting back down.

“Now then,” began Goknar, “on the subject of money. You’re committing about eight and a half percent to this venture of yours, to cover growth and expenses for two years, by which time hopefully the business will begin to show sustainability. However, that still leaves quite a lot of your assets unencumbered, and lazy gold doesn’t make friends to bring home.” He frowned, “I don’t know if you knew since you were in hiding, but the Ministry passed a decree freezing assets and investments near the end of the war, supposedly to stop those funding the enemy, but we always suspected it was actually to make sure no one could flee and take their money with them.” He shook his head, “anyway, without a Potter having been present to over ride the freeze after the war ended, we were unable to reinvest. Your money’s been sitting for ten years. Your property returns have kept your accounts from withering, but they’ve missed a lot of growth.”

James sighed, “Bugger, get it moving again Goknar. Let’s go ahead and resume the half that we were working with previously. But let’s diversify a bit more into the muggle world, there’s a lot of rapid growth going on that we might be able to capitalize on… I’ve got a few companies in specific,” he said, passing a folded parchment across to Goknar. “One of the muggleborn at Hogwarts pays a lot of attention to muggle trends and has mentioned these.” He considered, “I think I also want to get into the broom business, especially if you find anyone working on developing a racing broom that will top the Nimbus series.”

The old goblin nodded, “I think that’s most everything then for today,” James said as he stood. “I assume the blood locks will all work for my wife and I still?”

The goblin nodded again, “I’ll walk you down myself, in case, and arrange for a glamour to be provided on your way out,” said the old goblin as he came around from behind the desk. Harry was startled at how short Goknar was, considering he seemed nearly as tall as Harry behind the desk, as he lead them out of the office.

-=-=-= _Quality Quidditch Supplies_ =-=-=-

Coming out of Gringott’s a short while later, Harry and James were once again clad in glamours, though looking a bit different than before. Thankfully James knew the spell to let them appear to Lily and Neville as themselves. The pair walked casually down, Harry following at his dad’s side as his thumb rubbed against the band of the ring on his hand now. “Don’t worry at it, you’ll get used to it,” James said as he rested a hand on the back of Harry’s neck.

“I guess I’m just not used to wearing jewelry,” Harry admitted, drawing a smile.

“Neither was I, like I said, you’ll forget it’s there in a day or two and get so used to it you’ll only notice if it’s missing. I’ll tell you about what all it does another time…” he grinned, “let’s go check out broomsticks.”

Harry couldn’t help but grin at the enthusiasm in his dad’s voice, as the pair of them made a beeline for Quality Quidditch Supplies. James grinned, pulling Harry around the shop and eagerly explaining quidditch to his son, pointing out the different types of balls. Harry could do nothing but grin, the tingling feeling that he knew these things but didn’t quite remember them nothing at all compared to the sheer joy of sharing the bonding moment with James. He did get confused when James moved to the counter and slapped down a considerable amount of coin for two Nimbus 2000 racing brooms though, looking at James. His Dad winked conspiratorially, “sorry Harry, first years aren’t allowed brooms at Hogwarts,” he reminded, “I’ve been trying to get your mother to enjoy flying more for ages, maybe next year when we get you your own broom we can coax her up more.” He grinned then, “in the meantime, I’m sure she’ll let you borrow her broom from time to time.”

Harry couldn’t help but grin, as James quickly shrank the brooms down and slipped them into his pocket, leading Harry back out.

-=-=-= _Diagon Alley_ =-=-=-

Harry elbowed James as they were walking down the Alley, “Dad,” he said, pointing towards where Lily and Neville were emerging from Gringotts. Neville looked a bit green still, and when they approached Harry asked, “you alright Neville?”

“I don’t like those carts,” admitted his friend, making Harry grin. A quick conversation later and tasks were divided up, as Harry and James went to find an owl for the Potters and Neville opted to head to Flourish and Blott’s, apparently thinking the book shop was less hazardous to his upset stomach than the dark owl emporium.

When they emerged a short while later, Harry was carrying the cage of the great horned owl that his father had settled on, though he’d declined to name the bird. “If I name him your mother would never forgive me,” he said with a shake of his head, “she’ll spend hours going through books trying to decide on the perfect wry reference to name him.”

As they met back up with Lily though, Harry couldn’t help but let out a snigger of laughter when she slipped a finger into the cage and rubbed the owl’s chest, “Hello there, I think we’ll call you Archimedes,” she said in a cooing tone to the owl. At her husband’s spluttering she looked up and frowned, “What, he looks so much like the owl from the old Disney cartoon,” she said with a grin, “acting all grumpy and serious when he’s just a big sweetheart,” she added cooing more, rubbing the owl which gave a contented sigh of a hoot at the attention.

With that out of the way, James took the boys down to Twillfit and Tatting, insisting on one set of formal robes each, as well as several other outfits for Harry. Harry was a bit surprised when he also had dueling robes made for each boy, but James shrugged, “you may have cause to wear them some day, and being used to their fit will help in such situations.” Both boys looked a bit shaken and worried by the statement, and James paid before they headed out.

Meeting back up with Lily, who easily shrunk down the rather large bags she was carrying and slipped them into her pockets, Harry asked. “So…where to next?” and James and Lily exchanged a look.

“Let’s go sit down in the Leaky for a few minutes, we need to talk to you both,” said Lily quietly.

-=-=-= _St Mungos_ =-=-=-

“Neville,” began Lily gently, “we’d like to go see your Mum and Dad. I know you normally go at holidays and birthdays with your Gran, but if you wanted to go with us today you can.”

“It’s up to you though Neville,” added James, “if you’re not up for it, neither of us will fault you one bit. It’s been a fairly rough few days and you’ll still be able to see them when your Gran goes to visit over the holidays.”

Harry didn’t know exactly what was going on, but was easily smart enough to guess that Neville’s parents must be quite ill, to be alive but the other boy lived with his Gran. Putting on his best supportive face, Harry sat in silence, giving Neville time to make the decisions.

“I… I’d like to go with you, if you don’t mind,” he said quietly. “I’d like to tell them about my wand,” he looked down at the table as he said it, and James nodded.

“Of course,” he said, “come on, you and I will go through first,” he suggested as he stood up and gave the boy a pat on the back, leading him towards the floo while Lily reached out to hold Harry back.

“Harry, Neville is going to need your support for this. His parents were tortured into insanity by Voldemort’s followers and it’s very painful to go see them, because he loves them very much. We don’t want to get his hopes up, but we’re going to do everything we can to do anything we can to help them. Don’t tell him that though, just be there for your friend if he needs you,” she explained quickly before standing up. Taking Harry’s hand she lead him to the floo, “the address is ‘St Mungos Visitor’s Room’,” she said before ushering him ahead of her.

A few moments later, and Harry was unceremoniously spat out of the floo at St Mungos, nearly colliding with his dad who thankfully caught him with a wry shake of his head, “maybe we’ll practice having you floo around Hogwarts,” he teased quietly.

Going up to the desk, Lily dropped the glamour on Neville and had him check them in, before heading up to the long term spell damage ward. Once inside, they dropped the rest of the glamours. They gave Neville several minutes alone with his parents, before going in to check on them. After one look at the wasted figures and lost expressions of Neville’s parents, Harry was nearly in tears, and quietly waited at the doorway. When he noticed Neville drifting over, he asked, “Nev, you think they might have tea somewhere near here? Running around all morning, I’m parched,” in a quiet tone.

The other boy looked relieved and thankful, “Sure Harry, sure. I’ll show you,” he said, “Mr. and Mrs. Potter, that’s okay right? We’ll just be down the hall,” he explained quietly to which the pair nodded.

They had no idea that once Neville and Harry were out of sight, James provided a distraction while Lily started casting diagnostic charms all over the pair, while at the same time duplicating their charts and dropping the results into her bag.

They found the boys sitting at a small table in an alcove down the hall, pretending to sip from cups of rune dispensed tea from a vending machine. They had Archimedes sitting on the table between them, as they quietly talked about classes that they were looking forward to.

“Alright, let’s slip out before the Daily Prophet shows up wanting interviews,” smirked James, leading them back down to the visitors center as Lily reapplied glamour charms. As they were approaching the floo, none other than Rita Skeeter popped out, looking around and heading for the desk, asking if two adults and a boy around Hogwarts age had come in. Lily’s eyes were rolling as she lead the way through the floo and back to Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think one more chapter before the semester starts, Saturday evening and Sunday next chapter, then it's off to classes.
> 
> A quick note and rant on James and Lily - Every source I can find agrees that James and Lily were born in 1960. They then died in 1981. So they died at only 21 years old, having had Harry at 20. There is nothing at all unusual about people marrying and starting families young, especially in times of war. Why then in the movies are they depicted, even in flashbacks to Harry as a baby and photographs, as middle aged? The actress for Lily was 35 when she first appeared in Chamber of Secrets for the dementor flashbacks!
> 
> So please, understand, the James and Lily who came back are James and Lily from 1981, they are ten years younger than all of their friends as a result of their deaths. They are, however, far more mature than their appearances, due to their experiences in the next great adventure. I am going to dig around and see if I can find good 'played by' persons for them, but if you have great suggestions please hit me with em!


	6. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has been a while coming, lost my inspiration a bit and have been struggling to finish the chapter.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Potter Quarters, Lunch_ =-=-=-

Harry sighed as he climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off, casting a grateful look towards his mother when she cast a quick spell to clean the remnants of the floo trip and his unceremonious landing off. “Thanks mum,” he said with a grin, “I think I hate floo travel.”

Neville grinned, “Don’t worry Harry, it took me a long time to get the hang of it, but I bet you have it down in no time,” he assured.

A quiet laugh from Harry’s dad was his only contribution as he started withdrawing bags and parcels, restoring them to their original size and quickly dividing the parcels up. “Lotty,” he called to one of the Hogwarts elves who had been a regular caretaker of Gryffindor tower back in his day, wondering if the elf was still around.

An elf in the Hogwarts toga appeared and smiled, “Mister Potter sir, or no, Lotty is sorry sir, it’s Professor Potter now,” the elf smiled. “Lotty always knew you had potential, sir, if Lotty do be saying. You and that nice Mister Lupin,” the elf, a fair bit older than Lily and James remembered it, nodded its head agreeing with it’s own statements.

James smiled, “Lotty, glad to see you’re still around. Would you be able to put my son and Neville’s things away for them?” he asked, motioning to the two stacks of parcels, glancing to the boys, “letting Lotty see to it will draw less attention from your dorm mates,” he explained.

The boys looked at the considerable amount of goods they’d ended up picking up and nodded slightly, after all, formal robes and dueling robes weren’t the sort of thing they really wanted to have to explain, Ron seemed touchy about things like that.

Lotty was all smiles, “Lotty would be glad to, and Professor and Miss Professor Potter just let Lotty know if Lotty can help,” the elf said enthusiastically before vanishing, parcels starting to vanish off of the table in rapid succession.

Lily smiled, “Why don’t we go collect Hermione and head down to the great hall for lunch? I’m sure that Ronald is likely to find his way there on his own, but Miss Granger will read all afternoon and forget lunch if we don’t rescue her from herself.” She didn’t, Harry mused, seem to think that that was a particular character defect. Glancing at the bag she had re-enlarged which held the books his mother had picked up for Hermione, Harry made a mental note to ask Hermione what all was there and which she’d suggest to start with on his own studies.

The group headed down to the library where Hermione quickly gathered her things and joined them. As they were making their way down to the great hall, James glanced back at Lily, “Oh, Lily my love,” he started in a voice of contrived innocence, “were you planning to use your broom this afternoon?”

“What are you talking about, I don’t have a broo…” she trailed off, glancing at the sudden grin Harry was struggling to hide then back to her husband. “Don’t tell me.”

“Well, if you’re not going to be using it then,” he looked to Harry, “you should eat a light lunch, I hear the Quidditch pitch is supposed to be all free this afternoon.” His grin was huge and just got bigger when he saw how excited Harry looked.

“Can I pleeeease, Mum? Borrow your broom?” Harry asked hopefully, as Lily sighed.

“Of course,” she said in a tone of defeat, looking amused.

Harry and Neville rushed ahead a bit, excitedly talking about flying as Neville asked if they’d mind him watching, explaining that he really didn’t like brooms much. As they chatted and glanced back to ask James questions, Hermione fell back a bit with Lily.

“I’m going to hate this, aren’t I?” she asked Lily with a feeling of foreboding as she watched the excitement in the group ahead.

Lily’s only response was to drape an arm around Hermione’s shoulders and give her a reassuring squeeze.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Quidditch Pitch, After Lunch_ =-=-=-

It was not, Hermione reflected, the first time in her life that she had regretted being right. She doubted it would be her last either, but as she watched between her fingers and tried not to scream in terror, most of her thought process was focused on trying to think of ways to get Harry to the infirmary when he fell.

Not that he really looked like he might fall.

James had very briefly discussed flying with Harry, giving him a few pointers, before the pair of them had been off like rockets into the air. Hermione could plainly see that James was a gifted flyer from the very beginning, but to say that Harry outshone him would be a vast understatement. Within less than a minute of being airborne, the pair were playing a game of ‘tag’ with one another on the brooms at breakneck speeds. Within five minutes, they were performing a series of stunts, one performing the stunt and the other mimicking it back before performing one of their own.

Then James had upped the ante, and opened a box he’d carried out onto the field with them. Four practice bludgers and a half dozen snitches had flown out of the box. The padded bludgers were a bright orange color, and zipped around the confines of the quidditch pitch, zinging and chasing after anything that was on a broom. The practice snitches, meanwhile, looked the same as regular snitches with the difference that every so often they’d give off a small pulse of light. They were just as fast and agile though, meant to practice chasing the little things more than spotting them. There was a quaffle for passing practice as well, but the James and Harry left it in the case.

“Blimey, are you really tellin’ me that Harry’s never flown before?” Ron asked as he gaped, watching as James coached Harry as Harry flew around the field chasing and dodging, zipping through the hoop of one of the goal posts to avoid a bludger that was closing in and catch another of the snitches. He was up to three so far.

The twins had been there at first, but had long since vanished, slackjawed, running into the castle at top speed.

Apparently they’d mentioned what was going on, because a crowd was beginning to form, ohhing and ahhing as James and Harry played.

As for James and Harry, the pair of them seemed totally oblivious to their audience, laughing and calling out to each other, enjoying the time as Lily sat watching with a soft smile on her face. Her wand was in hand, just in case any sort of emergency arose, but she didn’t seem too worried. “He had a little toy broom as a baby, but other than that, he’s never been on a broom before today,” Lily said quietly.

Hermione glanced at her slightly, a quirk of her lips at the carefully phrased answer, guessing that Harry had flown plenty of times ‘before’, in a less linear sense than Lily had answered. With a wry glance to the two Potters on brooms, she wondered how many times she’d sat, worriedly watching her friend on a broom, just like she was doing now.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, McGonagall’s Office_ =-=-=-

Staring out the window, Minerva McGonagall barely registered the knocking on her door until the third time, glancing briefly away from the window.

“Come in, come in,” she called in exasperation.

“Professor McGonagall, ma’am,” Oliver started in quickly, “the Weasley twins are tellin’ me…”

“Yes, yes. I’m sure I can guess,” she said, pointing out the window. One of the reasons she’d actually moved to the Deputy Headmistress’ office instead of her old quarters as head of Gryffindor had been this window with it’s phenomenal view of the quidditch pitch.

“Ma’am, I know that normally,” started Oliver only to be cut off again.

“I’ll ask him as soon as they’re done, I am quite certain at least his father will encourage him, you know he was a tremendous player back in his day as well, usually as chaser but he subbed in on more than one occasion as seeker.”

Oliver stared a few moments, but finally couldn’t muster up the gall to go look out the window the head of house was watching from, so instead left her office to head down to the pitch himself.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Entry Hall_ =-=-=-

By the time it was starting to get dark, Harry was slowing down a bit, but his grin hadn’t faded at all. James smiled at his son and pulled his wand out, and a couple of swishes later the practice bludgers and snitches had all flown back to the case, which closed and locked itself once more. The pair landed, James picking up the case as they walked, brooms over shoulders, towards the stands where Lily, Hermione, Neville, Ron and what looked like half of Gryffindor, along with quite a few members of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, were watching. Lily and the others, along with a few other Gryffindor’s, started down to meet them while the rest began to start filing back towards the castle.

“You boys looked like you had fun,” Lily said with a smile, gathering Harry up and kissing him. He blushed a bit but didn’t pull away from the motherly affection, which Lily shifted to James, giving him a hug and kiss which had a few of the students who were still nearby whispering amongst themselves. The Potter parents, at least physically, were only about twenty one and with the exception of Professor Babbling, certainly the youngest of the staff.

“Harry mate, you’re incredible!” enthused Ron, “you could go professional flyin’ like that!”

Harry grinned at his friend, before looking at his mum, “Thanks for letting me borrow your broom Mum,” he said cheerfully, a bit louder than he might normally, having been tipped off by James to do so. “Do you want me to carry it for you back up to your quarters?”

“That would be lovely, dear,” Lily said with a grin.

Hermione fell in beside Harry, “You -will- be careful when you fly though, won’t you Harry?” she asked in a worried tone, “otherwise I’m certain I’ll end up pulling all of my hair out worrying while you’re zipping around like that.”

By now, the group were approaching the entrance hall, where Professor McGonagall stood waiting, looking as stern and imposing as ever.

“Good evening Professor Potter, Lady Potter. I wonder if I might borrow young Mister Potter for a moment,” she said gravely.

“Of course, Professor McGonagall,” James replied smoothly, a little grin playing at his lips.

McGonagall gave him a stern look, before motioning Harry over towards an older boy nearby. “Mister Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Oliver is head of the Gryffindor quidditch team, which is currently lacking a seeker.” She looked to Oliver who nodded.

“It’s like the Professor said, we’ve managed to put together a real strong team this year but so far, we haven’t had anyone who stood out at all for a seeker. The Professor said you probably hadn’t had many lessons on the game yet, but basically the seeker is responsible for catching the snitch, the little fast ones you were chasin’ earlier. Generally speakin’, and especially in school level play, the team that catches the snitch tends to win. At professional levels it’s not always the case, but without a good seeker, we’re gonna finish dead last.”

McGonagall looked to Harry, “Normally first years are not allowed on the Quidditch team or to have their own brooms, however, the question of being allowed on the team is tradition rather than a rule, and the rule about brooms is a safety concern more than anything. Considering the skill you have shown, I am confident of your safety on a broom,” she actually cracked a smile, “I daresay it would take considerable interference to knock you from a broom as talented as you are.”

“So how about it Harry, would you be willin’ to play seeker for Gryffindor?” Oliver asked, trying not to sound as utterly desperate as he sounded.

Harry, his eyes wide with surprise, opened his mouth to agree eagerly before he thought of something. He stopped, closing his mouth and biting his lip as he considered before asking quietly, “Uh, Professor, can I… I mean, I’d need to ask my parents,” he said quietly.

McGonagall looked briefly surprised, before her expression softened and she nodded, “It would be most appropriate for you to do so,” she agreed quietly, making a little shooing motion with her hand to usher him back towards his parents.

Briefly, Oliver looked like he wanted to object, but a silent hand on his shoulder from the Professor stilled his enthusiasm as he glanced to her, getting a small smile. They waited and watched as Harry approached James and Lily.

“Umm, Mum, Dad,” he said, never having actually asked permission from them really before. He’d asked for things from the Dursley’s, but all he’d ever gotten was yelled at, and eventually he’d learned that the answer was ‘no’ and to stop asking.

James and Lily were smiling watching the Professor and Oliver talk to Harry, but when Harry approached looking so nervous, their expressions grew more solemn. Hermione, Neville and even Ron standing nearby could all feel the tension from their friend, standing silently by, watching.

“Umm, Professor McGonagall and Oliver Wood asked if I would join the Quidditch team,” Harry said quietly, “would…would that be okay? For me to join I mean?” he asked, looking at their shoulders between them, almost afraid to look at them.

Hermione immediately reached over and clapped a hand over Ron’s mouth, shaking her head seriously at the boy who was just in the process of opening his mouth to blurt out something. Neville on the other hand, gave a little sniff as he blinked rapidly, his own childhood as practically an orphan making him understand all too well how much asking for his parents blessing meant to Harry.

Lily and James took a moment, before Lily responded. “We would expect that your studies not suffer,” she said seriously, “if your grades start to drop, we will have to pull you off of the team so that you can focus on your academics.”

James quickly added, “but, as long as you’re doing well in your classes, we can’t wait to watch you play.” The parents both reached out, hugging him quickly, as much to cover as Harry quickly dried his eyes and got his emotions under control as anything. Their own eyes were glistening, “I believe your new team captain might want to hear the good news,” James grinned finally.

Harry, grinning now, even if his eyes were a bit red quickly ran back over. “I’m in!” he said excitedly to Oliver, who let out a whoop of joy that echoed up the grand staircase.

“Mister Wood,” McGonagall chided, though she couldn’t manage much fire behind it. “Well, just this once I’m sure I can overlook it,” she smiled, “I would so like to retrieve the cup from my dear, dear colleague...” she looked especially fierce at the thought.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gryffindor Common Room, Evening_ =-=-=-

The twins came up as soon as Harry and his friends entered the common room, grinning from ear to ear. “Oliver’s just told us,” grinned Fred excitedly. “You’ll love it Harry,” added George. “We’re on the team too,” Fred chimed before George added, “yeah, best beaters in the school. Don’t you worry Harry, we’ll keep the bludgers off ya!”

“Oh awesome, I can’t wait to meet the rest of the team,” Harry grinned.

“What sort of broom do you have?” George asked eagerly.

“Oh, uh, actually it’s my Mum’s, it’s a Nimbus 2000.” He knew from the trip to the shop with his dad that it was a very top end broom. “She said I can borrow it for practice and matches since first years aren’t allowed brooms.”

Hermione huffed, “She also said that if your grades drop, you’ll have to quit the team, so we better make out a study schedule.” She looked to the twins, “how often do the Gryffindor team practice?”

“Oh…well, yeah. About that,” started Fred evasively. “You see the thing is,” George hemmed, “ah, Oliver’s a bit…” the two twins looked to each other before saying in unison, “obsessed and crazy.”

“He was saying something about finding Madame Hooch to book more field time,” Neville volunteered, “I heard him as we were coming upstairs talking to three girls who are in the higher years.”

“Ohh, those would be the chasers,” Fred grinned.

“Yeah, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson. Don’t worry, you’ll love ‘em Harry,” assured George.

“Just not too much, George and I saw em first,” grinned Fred. “Anyway, we gotta go find Lee, later you four!”

As the twins rushed past and out the portrait hole, Hermione frowned slightly. “You may have to explain to Oliver about needing to study, if he’s as practice-eager as they make him out to be.”

“Aww Hermione, but it’s Quidditch,” started Ron.

“I know, Ron. But Lady Lily was very clear, and I don’t think she’s the type to back down. I mean, she doesn’t exactly have a history of ever doing so, as I’m sure you recall.” Ron thought about it for a second before gulping and nodding.

“She may be right mate, if you don’t hit the books hard, yer Mum will ground ya and take away the broom,” he admitted. “Don’t worry, Neville an’ I will help, right Nev?”

Neville grinned, “I thought we’d already established that,” he said, sounding more confident than he had just a few days prior.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Great Hall, Sunday the 8 th, Dinner_ =-=-=-

Sunday passed relatively quietly, though the rumor mill had hold of the fact that Harry Potter was the new Gryffindor Seeker. The stories of his flying had gotten ridiculously exaggerated since the night before, until by dinner time, there were rumors that he’d been practicing his flying by dodging curses from no less than five Professors, and one rather ridiculous story about he and James having flown up and flown circles around a muggle ‘aeroplane’.

Harry considered the rumors for a few moments as he sat down, hearing the airplane story from the Hufflepuff table behind him, whispered in awe. A moment later he reached a decision, and turned straddle on his bench so he could lean over to the other table. “Hi, Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you. Umm, listen, it really wasn’t anything quite that crazy. Dad says I’m a good flier and I am on the team now, but we were just using some practice equipment Dad picked up at Quality Quidditch supplies.” He grinned, “no curses and no airplanes,” he assured. Realizing he sort of recognized the two girls from the sorting he asked, “you’re first years, right?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m Hannah Abbot,” said the girl with the blonde hair, smiling prettily.

Her friend grinned, “Susan Bones. It’s nice to meet you Harry, we didn’t really think you were flying around an airplane, especially since that would be illegal,” she assured. Though from the faint blush on the pair, Harry guessed that they might have at least believed some of it.

Harry smiled again, “Okay, I just wanted to make sure. I know there’s all sorts of stories about me and things I’m supposed to have done, but really I haven’t done most of the stuff people have written that I’ve done,” he explained. “I lived as a muggle for most of my life, and didn’t even know about magic. So it kinda rules out dragon adventures or whatever else those books said I did,” he assured the pair.

The two exchanged a look, before Hannah smiled, “I’m glad you told us,” she said, “honestly, with all the stories and what happened at the opening ceremony, you were a bit intimidating.”

Hermione couldn’t help but grin, “I think Gryffindor and Hufflepuff usually end up with some mixed classes, as I’m told that we will share classes with each of the other groups for different subjects. We should all sit together sometimes so we can get to know each other better,” she suggested.

And indeed, it wasn’t much later that McGonagall and the other heads of house were circulating along the tables, handing out revised and amended class schedules, now that things were settled down. It turned out that the classes were fairly well mixed, so the Gryffindor first years would share several classes each week with Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Flying lessons on Thursday afternoons would be combined with all of the first years, and Astronomy was at midnight on Wednesdays for the Gryffindor first years, which would not be shared with other house groups.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Great Hall, After Dinner_ =-=-=-

As Harry and his friends were starting to make their way to the doors to the great hall, chatting excitedly about the start of classes the next morning, a call from above caught his attention. With a great flutter of wings, Hedwig swooped down, landing upon Harry’s shoulder and nibbling in his messy tangle of hair for a moment. There was a scroll tied to her leg, but as he reached for the scroll, she pulled her leg away instead. Hopping off his shoulder, she ghosted into flight once more, drifting up to where James and Lily were just standing to depart the great hall. Harry, watching the owl, saw his parents tense as James held out an arm for her to land on and his mother quickly retrieved the scroll. A shake of their head though, indicated now wasn’t the time or place. As Hedwig launched back into flight, Harry and the others finally headed out of the great hall and up to the Gryffindor dormitories.

When he arrived in his dorm, he quickly found Hedwig upon her perch, drinking from her water dish. Taking out a couple of owl treats he gave them to his very first friend, stroking her feathers lightly before a little flash of light from his bed drew his attention to a note on his pillow.

Looking the note over, Harry recognized his mothers handwriting immediately as he read through it.

_Moony is coming to Hogsmeade to find out what’s going on. He’s very suspicious, and insists you be present if he is to meet with us. Your father believes he intends to ‘rescue’ you if he is not satisfied that you are safe. We’ll meet with him this coming weekend, as he’s got a lot of distance to cover. Don’t worry, Harry, he’s always been the most level headed of the Marauders and we don’t expect trouble. We love you, get some rest and enjoy your classes tomorrow!_

Harry couldn’t help but have to reach up and wipe the tears that suddenly stung at his eyes away, seeing that last line and that his parents had both signed the little note. He went to his trunk, opening it and finding his history of magic book, knowing instinctively it was the least used of his books. He tucked the note inside where it would be safe, closing his trunk before climbing into bed.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Potions Master’s Quarters, After Curfew_ =-=-=-

Harry was not the only one who received a note that night, in a script he had no trouble recognizing. He’d tortured himself reading and rereading every note she’d ever sent him when they were in school together and friends for a decade or more.

_Severus,_

_We know. Everything. For the time being, we are content to leave you be, since you seem hell bent to avoid us. Understand though, that if you mistreat my son or his friends, you will beg to be handed to your former master for a merciful end before I am through with you._

_\- Lily_


	7. Start of Term

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and his friends finally start their first week of classes at Hogwarts after the delays.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I don't own Harry Potter. You know that.
> 
> This has been sloooow getting written, sorry, just taking a lot of time getting class stuff out. I doubt I'll do a lot of focus on classes.
> 
> Additionally, seriously, scheduling and classes at Hogwarts make ZERO sense. There are just not enough teachers on campus to cover all the classes that need to be taught, unless you basically have student schedules that have them just having unsupervised time for tremendous amounts of time. As a former educator, believe me, unsupervised time is the bane of all educators.
> 
> Each year, I'll post the schedule for Harry at the start of the year, but will go ahead and warn now that I'm not even going to pretend to follow canon scheduling nor am I going to try and explain how the professors can teach all of their classes. I'm working under the assumption that Hogwarts Professors Offices are magical and allow them to teach multiple classes at the same time somehow.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= [ A Tapestry Unraveled ] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

Monday dawned bright and early for the students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Harry wasn’t at all surprised to find Hermione anxiously awaiting them as he, Neville and Ron headed downstairs to the Gryffindor common room.

“Finally,” she huffed, though there was a bit of a smile on her lips and her tone was good natured, “I was just about to send Fred and George up to wake you three!”

“That’s not even funny, Hermione, those two are right monsters!” complained Ron, “besides, we’re still early!”

“Oh come on, there’s still plenty of time for breakfast and we can get to class and get good seats!”

Ron sighed quietly, looking over at Harry as the four of them went through the portrait hole and out into the corridor, “I’m betting she doesn’t mean seats in the back of the classroom, does she…” he murmured with a shake of his head.

Harry and Neville both laughed, as the four headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. When they arrived, they settled in on the benches as Harry noticed they were the first of the Gryffindor first years down, “Dean and Seamus were going to be coming down in a few minutes, we should save space for them and the girls,” he said to the others. Getting nods of agreement, the four spaced themselves out a bit more to leave some space on both sides of the table, before digging into breakfast. It wasn’t long before Lavender, Parvati, Fay and Sophie joined, with Dean and Seamus arriving last.

“So double Transfiguration, Charms and then History of Magic after lunch. That doesn’t sound too bad,” volunteered Neville, looking at his timetable.

“Yeah, but I reckon Hermione is right, we ought to try and get to Transfiguration a bit early. I don’t think Professor McGonagall’s the type to be amused if any student shows up late, much less her own house,” pointed out Harry with a shake of his head, drawing agreeing nods from most of the other first years. Harry couldn’t help glancing up at the head table where the teachers were, and smiling when he saw his Dad and McGonagall in deep discussion, his dad laughing about something. His mother caught his eye, flashing him a warm smile before pulling a quill and a scrap of parchment out of her robe. After jotting something down she gave a little flick and twist of her wand, the parchment folding into a paper airplane and zipping across the common room to land on the table in front of Harry.

“Wicked,” Ron drawled, having seen the airplane arrive.

Picking the note up and unfolding it, Harry grinned.

_Have a good day in class, son. You and your friends are welcome to join your father and I for tea, we’d love to hear how your first day went!_

_-Love, Mum_

With a look back up to the head table he nodded excitedly, before looking to his friends. “Mum’s invited us for tea to talk about our first day,” he explained, before looking at the other first years Gryffindors that he wasn’t as close to yet, “You’re all welcome to join us,” he assured, “if you’d like to that is.” He had noticed that at least a few students, especially the other younger students, seemed more than a little intimidated by he and his parents, considering the events at the Sorting ceremony.

Hermione, checking her watch, hopped up. “Come on you guys, we don’t want to be late,” she urged, gathering her bag up.

“But the Professors are still all ea….” Ron’s voice trailed off, as he’d turned to the head table, his jaw hanging open in shock. The others looked that way as well, to find the table empty except for a rather amused looking Lily and Dumbledore. Lily raised her arm, tapping her wrist where a watch would be warn with an amused grin, before making a shooing motion, laughing quietly as the Gryffindor first years all leapt up to rush out of the Great Hall.

“Lily my dear, I do believe your husband has been a bad influence on you,” chuckled Dumbledore.

“Come now Headmaster, it’s best to nip bad habits before they can form, between Miss Granger and I, we’ll whip that group into shape in no time! Poor Filius won’t know what hit him when Gryffindor takes most of the top ten.”

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

Arriving at Transfiguration, they were thankful to find that they were still amongst the first of the students to arrive in the class. “See Hermione, plenty of time,” Ron quipped.

“Oh come on, let’s get seats,” she said, as the rest of the group headed in. Hermione, of course, took a seat front and center, turning to introduce herself to the blonde girl in Slytherin colors sitting beside her. Harry noticed the girl’s surprised look, before she politely responded and introduced the other Slytherin.

“Daphne Greengrass, and this is Blaise Zabini,” she said, indicating the darkly tanned boy beside her. While they were doing the introductions, Harry’s attention had drifted to a cat, sitting on the teacher’s desk and watching with surprising focus.

Grinning suddenly, he walked up to the desk and quietly said, “Good morning Professor,” so that none of the others would hear, “how very appropriate that it was a cat who helped me catch the castle’s biggest rat. I never got to thank you for that,” he said, bowing his head politely. The cat fixed him with a stern gaze before very clearly nodding its head, before tipping its head towards the seats. With a smile, Harry nodded and turned to join the others, sitting in the seat that his friends had left beside Hermione, Ron behind him and Neville behind Hermione.

As the rest of the class filed in and the door closed, the other students began to look around in confusion, “Soooo, where’s McGonagall?” asked Ron, looking around, only to be answered a moment later when the cat leapt from the desk and transformed into the rather stern looking Professor.

“Oh, I am certain she’s around,” she remarked with a straight face to Ron, sweeping her stern gaze over the assembled students. “I am very pleased that you have all managed to arrive on time this morning, it is always such a shame when I have to transfigure one of my students into an alarm clock on the first day of classes. Now then, welcome, to your first Transfiguration class. Transfiguration is the study of magic that changes one thing into another. Improper transfiguration can lead to severe and lasting injury, and I warn you that I will not tolerate foolishness or inattention in my classroom. Those who cannot behave appropriately will be removed from my classroom, and will not return. I trust I have made myself very clear.”

The stern teacher paused, her gaze sliding from student to student, before she nodded. “Very well, let us begin…”

What followed was a lot of very complicated notes and detailed explanations, after which they were all given a match stick and started trying to turn it into a needle. Professor McGonagall looked astonished when, less than ten minutes into practicing, Hermione had transformed her match stick into a perfect needle. “Very well done, Miss Granger. Two points to Gryffindor,” she said approvingly only to receive a second shock when Harry’s own matchstick turned into a needle less than a minute later. “Well, Mister Potter, it looks like you may take after your father in more than simply appearance,” she said with a rare smile. “Take another two points for Gryffindor.” Near the end of the class period, Daphne Greengrass was the only other student who had made significant progress, and the Professor held up her matchstick to show everyone how it had turned silver the entire length, even though it had not yet reshaped to be a needle. Seamus, on the other hand, went through over a dozen match sticks and managed to briefly set his notes on fire.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

Leaving Transfiguration, the four young Gryffindor’s naturally drew together, as they headed to the staircases to make their way to Charms. All about them, their Gryffindor yearmates were moving in the same direction, all chattering about what had been an excellent lesson.

“I knew when she came to visit that I was going to love McGonagall’s class,” Hermione said enthusiastically.

“Visit?” asked Ron, “I thought your parents were Muggles?”

“Well of course they are, Ron,” Hermione laughed, “the Professor came to deliver my letter and explain magic to me and my parents. I mean, you didn’t really think they just sent a letter and expected people who have never heard of magic to believe it was real did you?”

This drew a frown from Harry, “but no one came to deliver my letter,” he mused, “I mean, not at first. They kept sending hundreds of them but my Uncle kept grabbing them and destroying them to try and keep me from seeing it. If Hagrid had just come first, it would probably have saved a lot of trouble,” he admitted with a wry laugh.

“It’s probably because you’re not really a muggle born, Harry,” Neville pointed out, “by Ministry definition, you’d be considered a half-blood, since your father is pureblood but your mother was muggleborn. Gran says that the laws are full of loopholes and oversights, I bet you got caught in one of those. Since you’re not muggle born, you didn’t get sent the whole welcome to the magical world thing, but since you were raised by…Oh.. Oh Harry, that’s it!” he said suddenly, eyes wide, “you said your relatives hate magic right? By law, when the Hogwarts professor goes to explain magic and deliver the letter, the parents or guardians have the right to refuse to allow the child to attend. They seal the child’s magic and then erase the memories of the whole conversation and everything, so that they all forget everything about magic!”

Hermione looked pale as she realized, “Oh Harry, your Aunt and Uncle would have demanded…” she trailed off, choking back a sob and suddenly spinning and grabbing him in a tight hug. Neville and Ron, and several other of their classmates looked on with slightly uncomfortable looks while Seamus just wolf whistled.

“It’s okay Hermione, shhh, it’s okay. That’s not what happened,” Harry said, gently untangling her and grinning. “Gotta give the Headmaster credit for that, sending Hagrid instead. When my Uncle started yelling I wasn’t going, Hagrid just told him to shut up and called him a ‘great prune’.” He laughed, “then tied his gun in a knot. I think my Uncle may have wet himself, and I’m absolutely sure my cousin did.” Hermione was still very close to him he noticed, his arm still partially around her, though since she didn’t seem to mind at all he certainly wasn’t going to make an issue of it.

Ron, realizing what it would have meant said, “So the Headmaster sent someone who wasn’t a professor, so that they wouldn’t have to follow the law if your relatives refused. That’s bloody brilliant that is,” he paused, “but Harry.. What’s a gun?”

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

Getting into the Charms classroom, they settled into seats in the same arrangement as last time, though this class was just the Gryffindor first years. Lavender Brown sat on the other side of Hermione, and immediately leaned over, whispering to her. Harry looked over, as the two whispered back and forth, Hermione blushing and shaking her head, but their conversation was quickly at an end when Professor Flitwick made his way up onto a high stool behind his podium at the front of the classroom.

“Ahhh, first year Gryffindors! I’m so excited to have you all in class today!” the tiny professor squeaked before calling roll. He paused at Harry’s name, giving the young boy an excited look before continuing on with the rest of the roll. After that, the class spent time discussing theory of magic and what a charm was, taking lots of notes while the professor described the thirteen basic wand movements in magic. Using practice wands, which were slender copper rods in the shape of a wand which left faintly glowing lines in the air for a few seconds when moved about, the class practiced the wand movements.

As class was finishing, Flitwick called out in his high voice, “Well done everyone, now, I know some of you are going to be eager to practice but I don’t want anyone using their actual wand to practice wand movements until we begin learning our first charms spells! The library has plenty of practice wands that you can check out to use in the meantime, if you want to practice your wand movements. Off you go, lunch is waiting!”

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

After lunch, they were off to History of Magic, which proved to be the most boring of all the classes they were to have. Professor Binns looked as though he had been ancient when he died, and rumor was that he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up the next morning to go to class and continue teaching, not even realizing that he’d left his body behind. His dry, monotone delivery had Harry nodding off within minutes, especially right after lunch. When Hermione elbowed him in the ribs for the third time to try and keep him awake, she had leaned over, “What would Lady Lily say about you falling asleep in class on your first day, Harry?” Of course, the idea of disappointing them was enough to keep him upright for the rest of the double period.

Not that Binns seemed to notice, History of Magic was taught in one of the largest lecture halls, with all four house groups combined. The professor didn’t seem to even notice that he’d knocked over half of the class out, with Hermione, Harry, a few of the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, and about half of the Ravenclaws still paying attention.

As class ended, Harry turned to shake Ron awake, the redheaded boy sitting up and looking around in confusion for a moment before remembering where he was. “Ughhh, is it over?” he complained.

Laughing Harry nodded as he stood up, pulling the other boy up. “Come on Ron, we’re free at last,” he said, “and I think I need to go up to the Hospital Wing and see about the damage Hermione did elbowing me to keep me awake.”

Hermione huffed, “Well, I just didn’t want you to get in trouble, now did I?” she asked as she gathered her books and joined them.

Harry laughed, “I’m just teasing,” he assured her, as the four of them headed for the door. “Come on, we don’t have any home work yet, let’s put our stuff in our dorms and explore a little before we go to tea with my parents?” He paused, before looking them over, “err, if you all want to come that is.”

Neville grinned, “well obviously I’m going,” he assured, “come on Harry. As if you even have to ask? Right Ron, Hermione?” The other two both nodded, a large smile on Hermione’s face. Heading up to the Gryffindor common room found the majority of their yearmates having already made it back, and Harry quickly repeated his invitation from breakfast. The group were joined by Dean and Seamus, as well as Parvati and Lavender, the latter two of which seemed to rapidly be becoming best friends.

Heading out, they spent nearly two full hours exploring the castle, though Hermione insisted they steer clear of the forbidden corridor on the third floor. Harry and Hermione both seemed utterly fascinated by the statue of a hump backed witch they found, as well as a tapestry that seemed to show a man running from a bunch of trolls in tutus. On the other hand, they were all too glad to move right along when they both had a sense of dread and uneasiness passing by a girls bathroom on the second floor. A shared look let them know that they were both on the same page when it came to that particular bathroom.

“Oh! It’s almost time for tea and I need to run get one of the books Lady Lily loaned me,” Hermione said, making everyone note the time.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind getting tidied up a bit before we go,” Harry agreed, which of course had both Parvati and Lavender immediately insisting that they go back to the dorms so they could clean up as well.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

At 4:30, the eight of them headed back out of the common room and down the short hallway to the portrait guarding his parent’s rooms. As they were getting to the door, James approached from the stairway and smiled, “Right on time, you lot. Miss Dunbar and Miss Roper not joining us?”

“Fay and Sophie had a meeting for students wanting to join the Gobstones Club,” Hermione explained.

James looked a little surprised at this, and opened his mouth briefly as though to say something, before closing it again. With a shrug he said, “Got it,” before pushing the door open. “Well, come on in,” he said cheerfully.

As they all headed inside, they found several extra cushioned chairs around the sitting room. “There you all are,” said Lily, coming over and giving James a quick kiss before claiming her son in a fast hug and placing a quick peck on his forehead. Neville also ended up pulled into a quick hug, “please, sit wherever you’d like,” she assured, smoothing her own robes down as she pulled her wand out and gave a few fast flicks towards the table. The several plates of small sandwiches floated around to hover where each chair could easily reach at least one, while a tea service began to float around the room. As the kids all settled in, the service would come by and pour a glass, lingering long enough for them to add milk or sugar before it floated on to the next stop making its rounds. Even the magical born couldn’t help but be a bit impressed by the casual ease of the charmwork, even more so now that they’d attempted their own first spells.

“So, how’d it go today?” James asked with a smile, looking around before his eyes focused on Harry.

“It was great Dad, though I bet McGonagall is going to fuss at you thinking you told me about her being an animagus,” he grinned.

“Ohhh, you didn’t point her out to everyone did you? That’s her favorite way to start first years,” Lily chided.

“No mum, I just said something to her quietly, I didn’t want to ruin anyone’s surprise.”

Hermione nodded, “She told me when she visited over the summer that she normally doesn’t show her transformation when visiting muggleborns, and asked me not to mention it. It’s a really fantastic way to introduce transfiguration and get her students excited about her class, and I do so hope we’ll be able to learn when we’re older!”

James smiled, “Animagus transformations aren’t a normal part of the curriculum I fear, it’s a very, very complex bit of magic and can go horribly wrong if done improperly. There are some books in the restricted section of the library on the subject,” at which point Lily shot him a glare, “but they’re restricted for a reason,” he hurriedly added. “I’m sure if you’re really interested in the subject, if you’ve scored well on your OWLs, you could ask Professor McGonagall’s advice on the subject and she could recommend a good tutor or two.”

“You should also understand, if it’s something that interests you, that not all people can achieve an animagus transformation,” warned Lily. “There is a great deal of introspection and self-acceptance involved. Unlike many things in magic, it’s not about how strong of a wizard or witch a person is, nor how much effort was put into the study. If you lot want to learn one day though, I can help show you some meditation techniques that might help down the road, and are generally good practices for a young witch or wizard anyway.”

“That’d be awesome Mum,” said Harry, looking around the rest of the group who were nodding.

“So then, Transfiguration went well?” James prompted things back to the original subject.

“Yeah, Hermione and Harry even managed to get some points out of old McGonagall for being the only two to transfigure their matchsticks into needles on the first day,” Ron said with a laugh, “she looked like Christmas had come early when they both managed so fast.”

“And Seamus tried to set the room on fire. Repeatedly,” added Neville with a grin at the boy.

Seamus shrugged, “Look, I’m just sayin’, if you don’t want me to set a fire don’t hand me matchsticks. Not really my fault even, coulda been toothpicks or something and I bet it wouldn’ta caught fire so easy…” For some reason though, the others didn’t look particularly convinced. The week of exposure, even before classes had started, had already netted Seamus as a reputation as a bit of a pyromaniac.

“So then if I’m not mistaken, it was Charms for your second class,” prompted Lily, “though with only a one hour class, so I’m sure Professor Flitwick was doing introductory wand movements.” There were a few amazed looks from the seated kids.

“Umm, yeah,” said Ron, “how…”

“Charms was one of my absolute favorite subjects when I went to Hogwarts, and it was also my very first magical lesson. Tends to stick with you, doesn’t it?” he smiled to them, “after all, don’t you think you’ll remember Professor McGonagall’s transformation to start the lesson years and years from now?”

There were a few nods, before Harry asked, “how’d you know we had Charms second?” in a quiet tone.

James just laughed quietly, “Your mother nicked a copy of the Gryffindor’s first year schedule and duplicated it at the staff meeting so she’d know what classes you lot would be in and when.” No one really thought that the question was about the lot of them, and Harry couldn’t help the shy smile and pleased feeling he got, knowing that his mother had preemptively planned to watch over him.

“It’s just a shame you had History of Magic today,” Lily sighed, “I encourage all of you to read diligently, as Professor Binns is, unfortunately, rather narrow in the subject matter he covers and I fear does a poor job of adequately preparing you all for your examinations in the future.”

“Not to mention that he’s trying to make more ghosts by boring you all to death,” quipped James, drawing laughter from the students, and even a small smile from Hermione.

Lily gave James a mock glare, before she too smiled. The conversation drifted then, to the students backgrounds and lives before Hogwarts, and which classes they were most excited for. Finally, after nearly half an hour, the tea and sandwiches were done and the students were preparing to leave. “Hermione dear, could I speak to you a moment?” Lily asked as the others were getting ready to leave. “I’ve been looking at that list of books that you were unable to find at the shop.” The other students had already accepted Hermione’s bookwormishness and so didn’t seem at all suspicious as they headed out.

“You kids go on, I need a few minutes with Harry,” James said to the others as they were heading out the door, drawing a confused look from Harry who stayed inside instead.

“I’ll see ya’ll in a bit,” he assured the others, before turning back in as the door closed, James slipping an arm around him. “Is everything okay, Dad?”

“It’s great,” he said with a smile, squeezing Harry’s shoulders, “just your friends don’t know about everything going on yet, so we need to figure a few things out.” At a nod from Harry, the two went back into the room where Lily and Hermione were sitting at the table once more.

Once they’d all set down, James and Lily exchanged a look before nodding slightly. “Okay,” James started, “so first things first. We’re not really sure what you two actually remember at this point,” James said, diving straight into the problem. “We’re here to help and guide you, Harry. But we need a better idea of where our starting point is first, and Hermione..” He paused, looking at Lily helplessly for a moment.

Lily smiled slightly, before reaching over and squeezing Hermione’s hand, “I suspect that you did something that wasn’t entirely expected, though it may have been, considering the powers that are involved in this. You’ve always been incredibly bright, but there’s something else, I suspect?”

Biting her lip and looking at Harry, Hermione looked back to Lily and James and nodded slightly. “I have a library in a part of my mind, that I know is there, but I can’t really think about. The other me, from before, is the librarian. I think she’s rather happy with the job actually,” she gave a slightly strange look. “I think that’s why I want to learn occlumency so badly, like it will give me better access to the knowledge in that library. But I get the feeling that, with the exception of what all she showed and told me, she’s going to be very strict about letting me know anything about events. We both realize she’s not supposed to be there, and think that’s why we locked the knowledge about events or certain people in a restricted section of the library.” She smiled slightly, “We aren’t really the type to let knowledge just be thrown away. But I trust me to keep me out of anything I shouldn’t see. If that makes any sense.”

Lily laughed quietly, “not much of this makes sense, but I understand what you meant,” she assured as she passed a slender book, bound in dark green leather, to the girl before passing a copy to Harry as well. There was no title visible on the cover of the book, but rather a stylized closed eye in the center of the cover in gold leaf. “This is an excellent primer on occlumency, I’d like you both to read it and then set aside two nights each week to work on your occlumency exercises for at least two hours each night. It’s often better to work with a friend, as the exercise of trying to synchronize your breathing can be a very good tool for learning to meditate.”

The both of them nodded their agreement, before James looked to Harry. “How about you, son,” he asked quietly, “what all do you remember?”

Harry frowned, thinking about it. “I wrote myself a letter, and I remember it of course. So I know that Voldemort isn’t really dead and we’re going to have to be the ones to deal with him. I mean. I am, and you’re going to help me.” He thought about it, “and I remember a really bright place and talking with people about how you were going to come back to help me. But I can’t really see everyone, just more a feeling that people I loved were there.” He was silent a moment while thinking before he said, “I told myself how bad I needed my friend,” he explained, looking over at Hermione and smiling with a bit of an embarrassed look. “And about some people I needed to do better about, or watch out for, or try and get a different result with.” He looked at James, “Old me said I should ask you about the Marauders and Snivellus, and not let things with Draco turn out the same way.”

James and Lily both stiffened slightly, exchanging a look which prompted Hermione and Harry to exchange one of their own, worried expressions on the younger two faces. Lily pursed her lips slightly and James sighed, “Never doubt yourself Harry, the seventeen year old you grew up to be was a wiser, better person than I could hope to have been at that age.” Running his hand through his hair he paused a moment before explaining, “The Marauders are what my group of friends called ourselves. Me, your Godfather Sirius, our friend Moony who is practically family, and the one who betrayed us. I’d like you to never use the name that you said a minute ago though, it’s what we called someone we didn’t get along with. There’s a lot to it, and no one was innocent, we were all horrible to each other for seven years of school. In the end, we pushed each other to opposite sides of the war, and good, innocent people suffered because of the antagonism between us.” He reached out, slipping an arm around Harry, “You know how your cousin Dudley is like an ever so slightly smaller version of his father?” Harry couldn’t help a little snort along with his nod. “Draco is the same way. He’s imitating his dad. All the things he says or does are the things he was told as a kid are how he should act. Hogwarts is the first chance for him to be able to see that there might be opinions other than what his parents taught him.” He considered what to say next a moment, before continuing, “he hasn’t yet chosen what kind of person he wants to be, because he doesn’t yet even know there’s a choice. But if the example of what other sort of person he could be is throwing spells at him, or yelling insults and getting into fights, do you think he’d have any reason to want to be that sort of person instead of like his father?”

Harry thought a moment, then shook his head, making James smile slightly before he continued, “That said, he’s been taught to be a bit full of himself, and a bit of a bully. If the example he sees from other people is just people who roll over and let him do what he wants. The sort who are just punching bags for him, it won’t really be the sort of person he wants to be either.” He sighed as he looked at the wall, thinking about times past, “The marauders were pranksters and trouble makers, kind of like the Twins really. But when it came to Slytherin, we were pretty harsh. There was a war going, and we’d decided that we were on opposite sides of it from the Slytherin’s and especially this one person. Well, in fifth year, one of my friends did something that went way beyond a prank, and put lives in jeopardy. It was the stupidest thing he ever did. I didn’t know anything about it before hand, but managed to stop it just in the nick of time when I found out. Everyone got in trouble, and deservedly. Only Moony was really innocent in the whole thing. It really made me think about a lot of things though, Harry. I spent the next two months pretty miserable, and when I went home for Easter, I went to my Dad about the whole thing. The worst part was how disappointed he looked, as I told him things we had done. And tried to make excuses for why. But we both knew I was just trying to convince myself it was okay.”

He picked up his cup of tea off of the table and sipped from it, making a face at finding it cold. “My Dad and I talked for hours that night, and he told me a lot of important things. About what it meant to be a good man. About the difference between being able to do something, and being right to do something. About the difference between a prank and being a bully.” He smiled slightly, “after that, I like to think we did better. There was this beautiful redhead girl way smarter than me who I’d been trying to get to like me for five years, who seemed to decide that the new version of me might be worth putting up with long enough for me to apologize to her.” He looked over at Lily and smiled, “and we toned things down. Tried to make sure our pranks were things people would laugh about, including the people we played them on. Tried to make sure not to start altercations, and if one happened, that we didn’t go overboard retaliating. Just tried to be better people. We did a lot of growing up in those last two years, at least I like to think we did.” Lily reached over and took his hand squeezing it.

“You did, the rest…well…not so much,” she grinned. “Moony was always more mature, and Sirius will always be a bit of a man-child.” She did not, however, mention the rat.

“Anyway, to the point. I think you gave yourself good advice on Draco. You might not ever be friends, but you can set a better example of what it is to be a good man, than what he’s had in his life so far. But Harry, you can’t carry his fate on your shoulders. All you can do is try and be the best version of you that you can be, and give him the chance…”

“Not that this isn’t an important matter, but we should move on, your friends will start to worry. Or gossip that the two of you snuck off,” Lily suggested with a little smile, making both Harry and Hermione blush as they avoided looking at each other. “Voldemort isn’t dead, he’s disembodied. He’s got anchors tying him to this world,” she slid two leather journals across to the pair of them. “These are heavily charmed, just place a drop of blood onto the cover and it will bind the journal to you,” she said, passing a small potions dagger to the pair of them. Both quickly pricked their thumbs, pressing the blood to the cover which flashed. A wave of Lily’s wand and the two tiny wounds closed, “there we go. Okay, so the journals are divided up. The first section is for taking notes in class, and is charmed to expand as needed,” she grinned at Hermione’s excited expression, “there’s a contents page that you can use to add or move sections within the notes area, and an auto indexing charm will add an index at the back of the notes section. If anyone other than you opens the journal, they will only see the notes section. The first part after the middle bind is actually a journal, something I encourage you both to keep. It also has an indexing and search feature, to help you locate recollections. After the journal is a section that is protected by a charm similar to the Marauder’s Map. The password is ‘I solemnly swear to build a better tomorrow’ and will open up the information James and I will be adding about things that need to be accomplished and things you need to know if something were to happen to us.”

“Not that we’re saying it will,” James hastily added at the look of panic from Harry, “but things didn’t work out the way we intended last time, so we’re taking a lot more precautions this time.” He reached across, placing a comforting hand on his son’s shoulder, getting a worried nod and small smile from Harry.

“These sections are linked from mine and James’s copy of the journal with a protean charm, so as we add things, you will be able to see them. There’s three sections, facts, speculation and people. Things like what the anchors are and where they are hidden are in the facts section. The speculation section will be things we want you to know but that you shouldn’t take as more than advice. The people section will outline everything we know about anyone and everyone we think you might encounter, impressions of them, things we observed last time through, ways you might influence them or things you should guard against them being influenced by. That sort of thing.”

“The sorting hat does the students of Hogwarts a significant disservice,” James said, “or more accurately the current views about the hat do. It makes people sorted into Gryffindor think that planning and plotting are evil and only Slytherin’s do that. That only Ravenclaw should study and prepare. That only Gryffindor should rush to the rescue. And that Hufflepuff is leftovers. Don’t buy into that crap. Sirius, Remus and I were three of the biggest schemers on campus. There’s nothing wrong with ambition, the Twins certainly have it. You two certainly do, especially Hermione. Hufflepuff is the source of some truly exceptional witches and wizards, you’ll meet one of them soonish I hope, and she’s spectacular.” At Lily clearing her throat he nodded, “point being, don’t let the stereotypes keep you from using your minds or the information you have available to you, just because it might be ‘Slytherin’.”

“Back to the journals,” Lily said, looking amused at James, “the very last few pages are linked to specific other journals. You’ll see the name of who it’s linked to at the top, and no one else will be able to read it. I trust you will both realize that this is meant to assist in having conversations without drawing attention, and not for passing notes in class,” she warned in an amused tone.

“Of course, Lady Lily,” Hermione nodded quickly with a look that she was almost scandalized by the thought of passing notes in class.

“For now, the ‘war journal’ is empty, until you’ve both begun building occlumency shields. But we’re filling in ours, and there’s a contingency spell to activate and transfer the information if something should happen to us. Otherwise, we’ll start unlocking it as soon as you can’t have it read out of your mind by certain people in the castle.”

James nodded and took over, “In the meantime, we’re making plans to build an alliance that will stand with us and against Voldemort, but also that will stand with us to try and start making changes that will help keep this all from happening again anytime soon we hope. We’ve started Potter Innovations to begin translating technology to magical applications. We’re reaching out to old friends and allies, to reforge those alliances. Our properties are being restored and protected, so we’ll have a place to live and train. Hermione, we want to visit your parents and have them grant us authority to act in their stead while you are in school. Lily is working on a project she began while she was in school, but abandoned due to the loss of her parents, to let non magicals visit Hogwarts. Until then though, they can’t come here to advocate on your behalf if there was reason to. We’ll be beginning specialized training sessions on weekends as soon as we have a few details worked out, but we’ll also be leaving Hogwarts fairly often on weekends. There’s a lot to do that we simply can’t accomplish without going in person, which is another reason we want to speak to your parents Hermione, so we can legally take you off campus.”

Lily smiled, “so many bookstores, so little time,” she quipped to the younger bibliophile, making Hermione blush and smile at the same time.

James sighed, “The next part you’re probably not going to like Harry. We talked about it before coming back and you agreed, but you weren’t happy with it. Your fame is a very potent tool for what we’re trying to accomplish, and we’re going to add to it. A lot of very powerful people are demanding information on how we came back to life. They want to question us under veritaserum in front of the Wizengamut. Thankfully, the powers that were involved in the matter have sealed it so that we can’t divulge certain truths about the matter. However, we will be able to tell them that it was a likely impossible to repeat series of circumstances that owed to the incredible set of circumstances and unique abilities of our wonderful son.” He grinned, “which is absolutely true of course, but doesn’t tell them anything at all of use to them.”

Lily looked apologetically at Harry, “but the people who have believed all of the ‘Boy Who Lived’ crap are going to go absolutely insane over it. We’ve already asked Gringotts to set up a mail ward that will politely decline all offers of marriage or betrothal, and contracted them to screen the owls you will receive. We’re going to take you to meet a couple of nice folks we’ve hired who will be working to politely respond to your ridiculous quantities of fanmail, rather than having it simply ignored as it has been previously. Anything from anyone you actually know, or that is outside the usual patterns, will be forwarded on so you can actually receive it. We are, however, going to do our best to get those horrid adventure books off the shelves and publicly discredited.”

Harry nodded, “I.. I don’t love it, but I do understand. And I know you’ll do what’s best for me,” he said, smiling at his parents.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

Tuesday morning brought their first double Charms lesson, this one with the Ravenclaws, where Hermione and Harry continued to show an almost instinctual understanding for the proper wand movements. As the class was practicing their first actual charms, Lumos, Flitwick drifted over to where the pair was sitting to observe their very bright wand tips. “Well done, well done both of you!” he squeaked excitedly.

“Professor,” asked Hermione, her voice tentative, “is the looping motion really a requirement for the spell?” She had a feeling that it was not, but wasn’t quite sure why, as the books she’d read so far certainly seemed to suggest that it was.

“Ahh, an interesting question Miss Granger. And it touches upon a very advanced, and yet very simple truth of Magic. Tell me, Miss Granger, where does magic come from?”

Hermione considered that for a moment before answering, “Well, _Magical Theory_ says that magic is all around us, and that we use spells to harness that magic and form it into patterns to produce results,” she paused briefly before continuing, “but Mr. Waffling goes on to state in _Advanced Magical Theory and Applications_ that magical exhaustion occurs from the over depletion of a magical being’s reserves. If magic is all around us, then how would we be depleting our reserves while casting a spell?”

“Very good Miss Granger, very good! And you Mr. Potter, what do you think? Is it possible for what Mr. Waffling states in the first year text and what he states in the fourth year texts to both be true?”

Harry thought about it for a long few moments, while the other two remained silent, looking at him. “There’s a reason we don’t start learning magic younger?” he asked, thinking he might have an inkling, and getting a smile and a slight nod from Flitwick, prompting him to continue. “Well, then maybe something about growing up lets us build up the magical reserve that he’s talking about? But before we have a magical reserve, we’re doing what he talks about in the first book, and using the magic all around us?” As he finished talking, he realized that the classroom was more or less silent, as everyone seemed to be listening to the conversation between the three of them. He blushed to realize that he heard someone actually taking notes on what they were saying.

“Excellently reasoned, Mister Potter, and absolutely correct. So then, Miss Granger, can we then draw an answer to your initial question from the deductions that the two of you have made?”

Hermione nodded, “When we are still young and don’t have the reserves built up yet in our magical cores, because our cores are still maturing, it’s important to use the wand movements and incantations to draw in the ambient magic. So then, as we mature, the wand movements and probably the actual incantations become less vital.”

“Two points apiece to Gryffindor, well done indeed!” He held his wand up, completely still, and the tip immediately began to glow with the lumos spell that the class had been practicing. When he’d extinguished it he smiled, “Familiarity with the spell plays a tremendous role as well,” he said, now clearly addressing the entire class. “As does the specifics of the spell. Certain spells do not actually have a wand movement involved, as they require an amount of magical power that is impossible to gather from ambient magic quickly enough to cast them, but instead must come from the magical reserves within the caster. Then there are spells that, due to the way the spell was created, cannot be cast certain ways. Spells that must be cast silently, or cannot be cast silently, for example. Which leads to one of the most important things to understand about magic.”

Looking around and seeing that everyone was hanging entirely on his words, the diminutive professor smiled, “Magic is guided by intent. The wand movements and incantations are certainly important, especially while learning, but nowhere near as important as what you mean for your magic to do. Even your wand itself may be unnecessary if your will is strong enough to move the magic to your purpose. Now then, we have some time left, let’s see if we can’t get all those wands lighting up!”

As the class dismissed, Flitwick moved over to his lesson planner, making notes in the margin to incorporate the discussion into future first year classes, as he’d never had so many students manage to produce such bright Lumos spells on their first lesson on the spells.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

At Lunch, James grimaced and headed down into he dungeons. As a group of sixth years were filing out of the potions lab, he pushed the door open and walked in, finding Snape alone. He didn’t flinch as his old nemesis immediately pulled his wand, but neither did he pull his own.

“Alright, look, regardless of the other issues I need to say something,” he began immediately.

“I wish to hear nothing you have to say, Potter,” drawled Snape with a curl of his lips.

“Be that as it may, I will still say it. I owe you an apology,” he said firmly, curtailing whatever snide remark Snape was on the verge of throwing back at him. Instead the man looked at him with an uncertain, surprised expression, so James continued. “Neither of us was innocent in our school days, but I went out of my way to target you. To the point that at times I was nothing but a bully, simply because I didn’t like you. By the time I started to finally grow up, our enmity ran so deep I couldn’t bring myself to come to you and admit that I had been in the wrong. So I am doing so now. I deeply regret that I did not apologize to you when we were still in school, but I do so now.” He waited a moment in the awkward silence before bowing his head ever so slightly, “I have detained you from your lunch long enough, good day Professor Snape.”

With that, he turned and strode out of the potions lab, leaving a surprised and contemplative Snape to sit there wondering what had just happened.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

After lunch, Harry settled in at a table in Herbology, enjoying the earthy scent of the greenhouse and how peaceful it was around them. He couldn’t help but grin a bit as Neville and Hermione seemed to be competing to see who could answer the most questions, especially as his godbrother seemed to get more excited and come out of his shell more with each correct answer, realizing that he was competing with the girl who was rapidly taking the lead in all of their classes besides herbology.

The class passed otherwise uneventfully, Professor Sprout seeming like a caring, kindly professor. Though Harry would guess she was around Professor McGonagall’s age, she was nowhere near as stern, but seemed very approachable and warm, quite a different teaching style than Professor McGonagall. She was strict about safety around the plants and tools, without getting upset. Finally, class drew to a close and they filed out to head back into the castle, the Gryffindor’s heading down towards the dungeons for their first potions lessons.

As they settled into their seats, Professor Snape came into the potions lab with his cloak billowing behind him, which Harry had to admit looked fairly cool. Getting to the front, he called roll much as Flitwick had, pausing at Harry’s name and not reading it aloud, glancing up towards the boy before moving on past him in silence, taking the rest of the roll visually without calling out names.

“You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion-making,” he drawled, before lecturing them at length on the dangers of potion making and his utter and complete intolerance of any sort of foolishness in his classroom. After the lecture, he had students pair off and brew a basic potion for curing boils, sweeping around the room to observe. He reached out just in time to grab Seamus’ hand as the boy was about to drop porcupine quills into his potion, “Idiot boy!” he snapped, “if you cannot follow instructions, you will not be returning to this lab,” he warned ominously, “the pair of you,” he said addressing Dean as well, “will submit eight inches of parchment on the dangers of adding porcupine quills to a potion while it is still on the fire.” With that he swept off to praise Malfoy’s potion instead.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad lesson, though as they were leaving Hermione pointed out, “Did you notice that he didn’t come near any of us that whole lesson? He barely even looked at us,” she worried.

“Shhh, don’t knock it Hermione. Fred and George say he’s always awful to Gryffindor’s, let’s just hope he keeps on pretending we aren’t there,” urged Ron.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

At lunch the next day, the twins and Lee Jordan came over and sat with Harry and his friends, excitement in their eyes. “Blimey Harry, your Dad’s awesome!” enthusiastically declared George.

“I mean, obviously he’s awesome for being your Dad. But then he’s Prongs too. And the coolest DADA professor we’ve ever had!” added Fred with a grin.

“Yeah, I had no idea he had been an Auror during the war,” said Lee, “even the Slytherin were talking about how good a lesson it was. Learning from someone who really knows what they were doing, kinda novel for Hogwarts DADA.”

“I actually didn’t know that either,” Harry admitted, with a bit of a sad frown, “but I’m excited to have him for a teacher. Even if I know he’s going to be extra tough on us.”

Fred and George exchanged a glance, before changing the direction of the conversation, “He pulled us aside after class to talk to us too, about the difference between a prankster and a bully. Bit uncomfortable that, but he seemed to really just want to make sure we didn’t ‘repeat past mistakes’ as he put it.”

Hermione and Harry exchanged a look of their own, before Harry nodded. “Yeah, he told me something similar. I’ve really been thinking about it a lot, where I used to live I got bullied a lot,” he explained, not really looking at any of them but knowing that his friends were paying attention. “The muggle relatives I was sent to live with hated magic and hated my parents, and resented me being there. They were…less than nice. And encouraged my cousin to bully me every chance he had, which spilled over to his circle of friends in school.”

Noticing blank looks, Hermione interrupted to explain, “Muggle children begin school at age five, to learn their numbers, reading and writing, history and so forth. Because there are so many more muggles, and most parents work full time, home schooling is far rarer than in the magical world.”

Harry glanced towards her and nodded, before continuing, “My cousin and his friends favorite game was ‘Harry Hunting’,” he said, ignoring several gasps from his friends and housemates who were nearest as he struggled to continue. He hated sharing things about himself, but realized if he wanted to do what was right, he had to do what was hard sometimes. “After talking to my Dad, it really made me think, about what sort of person I wanted to be. And about how things that we do here in school at Hogwarts are going to be with us for the rest of our lives.” He grinned and reached over, poking Hermione in the ribs as he added, “Besides our OWLs and NEWTs that is,” to lighten the mood a bit.

There were a few laughs before Ron said, “But Harry, it’s not like you’re a Snake, you wouldn’t go around picking on people!”

Harry sighed, “See Ron, that’s just it. My family hated me because I was magical. I was bullied because I was different. How is that any different from hating the Slytherin’s just because their tie is green?”

“But.. They’re evil!” Ron declared, “I mean, just dark witches and wizards in training. You know they’re the ones that supported you-know-who!”

Shaking his head, Harry looked at his friend. “No they’re not Ron. They’re kids. How evil can an eleven year old really be? They might have bad manners or have been taught to behave poorly, but right now, they’re no different than us. And I know from talking to my parents and Hermione looking it up that there were people from every single Hogwarts house who supported you-know-who. The absolute worst of the lot, that betrayed my parents, got them killed, and sent me to live with my horrible relatives was a Gryffindor. And no, it wasn’t Black, like people think. It wasn’t ‘he was from an old dark family’. Sirius Black is my godfather and innocent, he’s going to get a trial and my parents are going to go and tell everyone that he is innocent. The real traitor was Peter Pettigrew, who had everyone fooled.” He realized he’d been getting loud, calming down and saying more quietly. “Sorry,” he said quietly, looking around his friends. “It’s just a bit raw still, it’s been a lot of information really fast…”

“Don’t worry about it Harry,” assured Neville, “it is okay to think Malfoy is a prat for acting like a prat though, right?”

This got a laugh from the group and a smile from Harry, “Sure, but only if we call each other out on it when we’re the ones being prats.”

None of them noticed Professor McGonagall standing not too far away, listening in, or heard her quietly say, “Ten points to Gryffindor,” with a proud smile as she headed back up to the head table. 

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

The Gryffindor first years didn’t get to go to the class they were all, by now, looking forward to until Thursday afternoon. They made their way to the Defense classroom, stepping inside to find that it had drastically changed since Harry had seen it when his parents removed the curse on the position. Showing off not only his abilities in transfiguration, but also the sheer adaptability of Hogwarts classroom layouts, the classroom had been reconfigured into a sort of auditorium. There were easily enough seats for their entire year, the desks on tiers so that they could see over the person ahead of them towards the front. A dueling piste was the primary feature of the front of the room, while beyond that near the back wall of the room were a number of enchanted target dummies. The Gryffindor’s shared this class with Slytherin, with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff having filed out as they were entering. The Slytherin’s were strangely subdued, unlike the students who were leaving the class, chattering excitedly, not a few of them casting not so subtle looks Harry’s direction.

Noticing all the looks, Malfoy sneered, “I bet you’re loving being the center of attention, Potter,” he muttered as they were moving to enter the classroom.

Harry shook his head at his friends when they started to bristle, looking at Malfoy instead. “I’ve never really liked attention, Draco. But considering all the attention is because I got my parents back, I can live with it. It’s a small price to pay.” He kept his voice calm and even as he said it, before heading in and finding his seat, leaving Draco with a confused expression as he went and found a seat with Crabbe and Goyle sitting on either side of him.

As they all settled in, Professor Potter reentered the classroom from a door to one side. As he did, he tapped his wand against his robe, dismissing the glamours he normally had in place, revealing not the typical Hogwarts professor’s robes, but a dragonhide trench coat. The robe looked black, but as the light hit it just right, the deep red hue became subtly visible. It was worn over loose slacks that wouldn’t impair his mobility and a dress shirt. A vest of the same material as the coat was worn over the shirt, the front of the vest descending like coat tails to provide protection to his upper thighs.

All in all, Harry thought he looked thoroughly awesome.

“Good afternoon everyone, Professor McGonagall tells me that it’s of the utmost importance to introduce myself at the start of our first lesson, though I personally think that’s rather redundant at this point,” he said, drawing a few nervous laughs from the class. “So, I am Professor Potter, and this is Defense Against the Dark Arts. As you are first years, I get to be the very first one to introduce you to this course, which I’m quite excited about.”

“To begin with, I want to start with what this class is about. ‘Defense Against the Dark Arts’ is the longest title of any class offered here at Hogwarts, and yet tells you the least about what you’ll actually be learning. What are ‘the Dark Arts’? If you asked any ten witches or wizards, you’d get ten different answers. There’s a couple of different text book definitions, there’s what the ministry would say, then there’s what the DMLE would say. There’s what a graduate of Ravenclaw would say, versus what a Slytherin might say. There’s what a Gryffindor would say then what a Hufflepuff might. I think you get the point. The ‘Dark Arts’ isn’t some clearly defined thing that we can all agree on, which makes teaching defense against it rather a difficult thing, wouldn’t you agree?”

“There are a few things that we can all agree on, at least at the moment, like certain spells intended only to cause harm being ‘dark’, or certain creatures that most people agree are ‘dark’. But then there are spells that can be used for harm, but are not intended that way at all. The Blasting Hex for example, is meant for quarrying stone, but can be devastating when turned upon another being. Similarly, certain creatures that are defined as ‘dark’ are certainly more complex of an issue, for example werewolves are defined as a dark creature and yet one of the kindest people I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing was cursed with lycanthropy as a child. Is it right to discriminate against that person because of something that happened when they were four years old, that they had no control over?” He looked around the room, which was silent other than the scratching of a few quills as notes were taken.

“So what will we be learning then? Quite a broad range of things, actually. We will learn about dangerous spells and how to counter them. We will learn about dangerous creatures, and how to survive encounters with them. We will discuss tactics and creative applications of spells to defend yourself. But more importantly, we will have discussions on ethics. Because ultimately, what really makes magic and even magic users ‘dark’ is the intent behind the magic.”

“We will meet twice each week, on Thursday afternoons we will have lecture and discussion. We will learn and practice the wand movements and incantations for spells, and we will discuss various creatures. On Friday afternoons we will have an extra long lesson combined with the rest of your year group, where we will have practical lessons. As you are first years, we will be doing very little dueling, but will be doing training exercises on some of the most important aspects of defense.”

He grinned then, “And on the subject of one of the most important aspects of defense, can anyone tell me the only universal counter against hostile magic?”

He paused, waiting as the class stared first at him then started looking around at each other, but not even Hermione had her hand up. Drawing his wand he flicked a very low powered stinging hex at Harry, who yelped in surprise more than pain, before Crabbe got tagged with one, followed by Ron. As he flicked the wand towards Daphne Greengrass, she immediately raised her book and ducked behind it, while Hermione let out an excited, “Oh! Don’t get hit!” before blushing as she realized she hadn’t raised her hand.

Laughing, Professor Potter nodded, “Right you are Miss Granger. If you learn nothing else from me in the time I am here besides this, I will count my time as a Professor a success. There is only one counter that works for every hostile spell, be it a stunner or disarming charm, fiendfyre or even an unforgiveable. Don’t. Get. Hit.” He smiled, “one point each for being good sports to those of you who got stung, and two points to Miss Granger plus three points to Miss Greengrass for demonstrating, well done.”

“I’m confident that all of you would learn the stinging hex within the first three weeks of school anyway, so I won’t even feel guilty about teaching it to you all. We’ll be learning the stinging hex today, so I’m sure that you can all guess what we’re going to be doing a lot of tomorrow during our practical exercises,” he grinned, “and speaking of exercise. I will be conducting voluntary non magical fitness classes for all year levels each morning before breakfast, to help you learn how to exercise your body so that it will be able to keep up with your magical growth. These classes are entirely optional,” he glanced towards the Gryffindors, “well, for most of you,” he grinned making Harry and Neville both groan slightly. “I do thoroughly encourage you to come though.”

Malfoy, on hearing the ‘non magical’ though, had scoffed. “Are you really going to teach muggle techniques?” he drawled condescendingly.

Professor Potter just smiled slightly, looking towards him, “Does the source matter if it’s good information? Tell me, Mister Malfoy, if a muggle ran up to you and informed you that your home was on fire, would you let it burn just because a muggle said it was? Or would you go put the fire out?” He looked around the class, “disregarding valuable information just because of the source puts you at a tactical disadvantage right off the draw, leaving you to play catchup from then on. I doubt many of you are all that interested now, but I feel confident many of you will change your minds after tomorrow,” he grinned wickedly. “Now then, the stinging hex,” he said as he set to work teaching them the spell they would be using the next day.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

By the end of the first hour of class the next day, they all understood what he’d meant. By the end of the second hour, they were nearly all on the verge of collapse. The dueling piste had been recessed into the floor, leaving a large open area where Professor Potter had transfigured a number of obstacles of various height, giving students something to duck behind for cover. Then he’d set them into groups of four, one student from each house, with all of their robes transfigured to a single color per group so that they were able to identify who they were supposed to be up against. The groups of four then tried to sting each other while avoiding getting stung. It had been chaotic, and everyone had received dozens of stings as they tried to dodge between each other and obstacles, everyone trying to avoid three potential enemies. Finally, at the end of the second hour, he called a halt and transfigured dozens of squishy bean bags for them to collapse on, while pitchers of cool water and glasses appeared throughout the group courtesy of the house elves.

“Now then, as I don’t want Madam Hooch after me for sending you all to your flying lessons falling over tired, I’ll cut you all some slack today. I hope you all now understand what I meant about fitness,” he grinned, “Aurors train not just their magic but also their bodies, and even if you don’t intend a career in law enforcement, there are numerous benefits to getting into a habit of fitness early in your life.”

They then had a short discussion on what they had learned in the class, before being released early to make their way down to the front steps and onto the grounds for their flying lessons. As the class spread out to the broomsticks, Harry had no doubts at all, looking over at Hermione and seeing how nervous she looked. He scooted a little closer to his friend, just in case.

Neville, having had a chance to go up briefly with James the previous weekend, was far less nervous than he might have been otherwise. Holding his hand out he called ‘Up!’ to his broom on cue, which rose into his hand obediently, though not quite with the gusto of Harry’s own. Looking over at Hermione again, Harry quietly said, “Relax Hermione, you’re Hermione Granger, you’re amazing. It’s a broom. Show it who’s in charge,” he assured. “You know I’ll be right beside you and won’t let you fall,” he added. She shot him a quick, worried sort of look before squaring her shoulders and giving the broom a glare, and when she said ‘Up!’ the second time, it was more the tone of McGonagall reprimanding a student. The broom immediately rose into her waiting hand, drawing a slight smirk from her, though she still looked uneasy.

When Ron started to snicker slightly as Madam Hooch was correcting Malfoy’s grip on his broom, Harry shot him a look, getting a guilty look in return and an apologetic smile.

At her whistle, Harry pulled up off of the ground only briefly, setting back down and remaining close to Hermione. Neville seemed to have no trouble with the exercises, the confidence of having been shown the basics by his Godfather translating into a much calmer Neville than would have been otherwise. Meanwhile, Hermione still seemed to be struggling.

“I’m sorry Harry, I just really don’t like heights,” she admitted quietly.

Harry just smiled, “don’t worry about it, everyone has things they don’t like. She didn’t say you had to fly the broom high though Hermione. We can just skim the ground to get you used to controlling it,” he assured. “I’ll stay close just in case, and we can go higher if and when you feel like trying it. We can also talk to Mom about if there’s something that she can help with that would make you fall slowly if you were to come off, that way you would know you were safer.”

She thought about it a moment, then on the next call, set her face and kicked off a bit harder, rising a couple feet off of the ground and holding there a few moments, before coming back down. “That…wasn’t so bad,” she admitted.

-=-=-= _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_ =-=-=-

As Harry settled in to bed that night, he thought back. All in all, it had been a very good week, he and Neville had coaxed Hermione up almost ten feet, flying nice and slow to help her get used to it and staying close. He tried not to think about the first ‘fitness class’ he had to attend the next morning, or his nervousness about meeting Moony the next night. He had to trust things would be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got incredibly long, apologies for that, I was trying to do the 'first class' of each class. Harry and Hermione are performing excellently in class, but I do want to reiterate that this isn't going to be a 'genius Harry' fic. Hermione is still going to be the smartest witch of her age. Harry, on the other hand, is definitely going to have power. He developed faster than other students in the books, and will be developing even more rapidly in this fic.
> 
> Also, no, Snape isn't getting let off of the hook. But in writing James talking to Harry about things, I thought that James would feel the need to set his own account in order regardless of everything else. This is a James that has grown up a lot, between the growing up he did at the end of school and marrying Lily, to the things he came to understand watching Harry suffer through life.
> 
> Lily, on the other hand, doesn't have any guilt she's carrying around regarding her former friend, and hell hath no fury like an angry redhead.
> 
> I'm playing with a lot of characters right now, simply because Harry and Hermione are trying to be more outgoing. Things will resolve as the year goes on into a more 'core' group, which may or may not include people from other houses.
> 
> Next episode - Moony returns, we see the first effects of the unknown boon that was mentioned waaaay back, and things will pick up speed, somewhat.


	8. Chapter 8

Hello all,

Been a while since I've updated anything or posted anything on this story, I know. I wanted to throw something up to say that I've not abandoned it or anything, I just sort of lost my inspiration and felt like I wrote myself into an impending dead end.

I'm going to be doing a bit of a rewrite, soon, as I've been pondering what to do with the story for months. I'm just trying to decide whether it's best for them to come back in first year, or if I should move to third year instead.

Anyway, hopefully you'll see more on this story soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Reference Section:  
> Powers That Be:  
> Death - The harvester and judge of souls, passes them on to their proper destinations.  
> The Fates - Three sisters, spin the threads, weave the tapestry and cut the threads of fate for each life.


End file.
